Apple Pay just uses NFC, which is an open standard. There are no UX standards for though, so retailers do all sorts of things. Like continuing to ask for a signature/PIN. Or require the customer to explicitly say they want to use Apple Pay before the terminal's even turned on. It's not a seamless experience for customers right now.
Apple Pay doesn't "just use" NFC. The interface is designed by Apple with built-in security. The technology that Apple Pay uses is NFC.
Retailers can require extra steps, like signatures, but it's still the easiest and most safe form of payment when it's turned on and ready. Moving forward most retailers will remove the extra steps, but that will take time and it won't ever be perfect.
My original post said "in five years" and for good reason. If you want to have a discussion about whether Apple Pay is a viable payment option throughout the country in 2015, it isn't. I never said it was. Come back to me in 2020 and we'll see where it stands.