So this means you won't be using your credit card anywhere else, ever, now that Apple Pay is on the scene?
No, that's obviously not feasible, certainly at this early date. However, I absolutely will choose a retailer that supports Apple Pay over one who does not, all things being otherwise equal. I've moved my prescriptions from CVS to Walgreens, I will shop Home Depot instead of Lowe's, will eat at McD's instead of Wendy's, and will buy electronics at Radio Shack instead of Best Buy.
Seems to me security should be ubiquitous and not limited to just those with an iPhone 6 in the Apple ecosystem.
Agreed. Apple is making the first brave step into EMV tokenization; it would be great if other phone manufacturers/Google did the same. It's not Apple's fault that no one but Google has seemed to care in the past and that they did a pretty poor job of it.
And what about as new iPhones are released along with new versions of IOS and suddenly you can't use Apple Pay because your iPhone is too old? Look no further than what Apple did with the introduction of continuity.
Not sure I understand you, but if you are implying that Apple Pay won't work on my iPhone 6 one day anymore because it is too old, I really don't think I believe that it would happen. That would be a CVS-level moron move.
I don't think it's good for consumers or businesses for one company to be the gatekeeper of secure credit card transactions. The biggest stakeholders in this game with respect to security are the credit card companies.
Apple isn't the "gatekeeper". They implemented an open standard (EMV tokenization) that any other company could implement tomorrow if they had the desire to. The major issue you'd face in trying to roll your own is the problem that Apple is attempting to use it's clout to bring about: Each individual credit card issuing bank has to be on board, as do the card networks. Apple is/will be making this happen, and everyone who may decide to follow them will benefit from the trail that Apple is blazing.
Won't the coming implementation of PIN and chip cards create a secure environment?
Nope. When you insert your chip & pin card, the real credit card number is used, just as if you swiped the card you have today. In other words, it would still be vulnerable to the attacks on Target, Home Depot, KMart, etc.
The only thing that chip & pin mitigates is use of a lost or stolen card.
If yes, then Apple Pay becomes just a convenience doesn't it, albeit secure? And if security is your biggest concern as you state, what difference does it make who's providing it?
It doesn't matter who provides it. What matters is how secure it is.
Apple Pay is - as near as can be determined by the incomplete information that we have - as secure as it can be made. The alternatives are:
Google Wallet. Secure enough in theory, but all the eggs are in one basket (Google) instead of with hundreds of banks. You also have the issue of Google knowing your transactions and perhaps selling the data. Google would make a good candidate for creating a comparable system, but they can't even get phone manufacturers and carriers on board with what they do, and they would likely be loathe to give up all the valuable and mineable data on your purchases.
CurrentC. Not even really comparable since it funds off your bank account, not your credit card. They do ACH transfers when you make a purchase, and ACH transfers have significantly weaker consumer protections from fraud.
Pay was announced. It would take only a moment to read one of the many articles published on the subject. Heck, they could even read a few pages on one of these threads and learn the highlights, if not the details.