Spending on debit and credit cards in the UK overtook cash for the first time last year, but already the technology industry is gearing up for the next battle.
According to analysts, Apple is considering heavily subsidising payment terminals for shops as it prepares to take on rival "Near Field Communications" (NFC) systems from Visa and Mastercard, which allow shoppers to simply wave their credit card at the checkout.
The second iPad is due in April, swiftly followed by the fifth iPhone in June.
NFC is most familiar to most Britons as the technology behind Transport for London's Oyster card. More recently it has been promoted by Barclaycard: For small purchases, users just have to wave their card rather than enter a PIN.
Apple is not the only Silicon Valley giant to see the potential in uniting such technology with internet-enabled smartphones. Google's new Nexus S device also incorporates an NFC chip.
"The reason this NFC chip is so interesting is because the credit card industry thinks the loss rate is going to be much better, they’re just more secure," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt in November.
Apple's forthcoming launches will be particularly closely watched, because as with technologies popularised by the iPhone, such as mobile web browsing and touchscreens, the mobile industry has tried for several years to launch NFC, with limited success.
Steve Jobs' mobile payments service is expected to be launched in the United States as soon as mid-2011, according to Bloomberg. It is likely to be integrated with the firm's iTunes service, which already holds financial information on millions of iPad and iPhone owners.
The system could open up yet another front for Apple, against the credit card industry. The firm is already the world's most valuable technology company, fighting service providers, hardware and software makers in many markets.
