It isn't a 'geeky gimmick' if you can use your fingerprint instead of entering a PIN, in the UK we have had a lot of issues with cards being skimmed and cloned at cash points, maybe it's a world wide problem. I was saying last week that if we didn't have to put a card in or enter a PIN it would have a huge impact on fraud as it would be near impossible to clone cards.
Cards are not the solution, I would happily go without cards, I use Apple Pay for around 50% of all transactions now and would happily use it for all others. I don't do this because it's geeky, cool or saves time (although it's quicker to pay for an item with Apple Pay than it is with a card) I do it for the increased security. I've had cards cloned twice in the last 5 years, one was at a cashpoint and one at a petrol station. If nobody touches or even sees my card then they can't clone it.
We also have issues with some organisations using some rather underhand tactics to link cards to people. I don't use loyalty cards, I don't feel the rewards are worth worrying about and I don't like the junk mail or spam that follows them. However recently my partner paid for something in a large UK supermarket using her card, a few days later got an email with offers connected to the purchase. The only time she had given an email address to that supermarket is when doing some online shopping, and she used the same card. So what they've done is take the card details and linked them to he email address, then when she purchased in store connected it to her email address. I don't think that's quite riht personally, I'm not worried about being watched, I'm just worried how much information people have and what they may do with it.
If the store took Apple Pay they wouldn't be able to link the purchases, it's anonymous, just the way it should be unless we decided to have one of their loyalty cards.
Back to the cashpoint machines, they really need to take the next steps and allow people to not use their PIN, that would really increase security and reduce fraud and theft. A universal solution is also essential, hopefully that won't be too far behind.