Apple Pay
Apple
Apple just announced a new mobile payments system called Apple Pay.
Apple Pay will work with an NFC (near field communication) antenna that will be built into every new iPhone as well as the new Apple Watch. 
To get started with Apple Pay, you can simply add a credit card from your iTunes account. You'll also be able to add new credit cards to Apple Pay just by using the iSight camera on your phone — no need to type in card numbers. Each card will get a device-only account number, so the actual credit card number is never stored on either your phone or Apple's servers.
The service is starting in the U.S. and will work with American Express, Mastercard, and Visa, as well as several major banks, like Capital One, PNC, and Chase.  
With Apple Pay, you'll pay for something with a touch of your finger using TouchID. Apple has partnered with a bunch of stores like Whole Foods, Macy's, Target, Walgreens, Chipotle, McDonald's, and, of course, Apple stores, and works at over 220,000 merchants total. So, you'll be able to go into one of those stores, open up Apple Pay, hold your phone up to an NFC reader, and simply touch it to authorize a payment.
It will also work with apps like Uber, Seamless, and Groupon, and websites like Target, too. You'll have the option to pay with one click, like you can see here:
Apple Pay Groupon
Apple

If your phone is lost or stolen, you'll be able to suspend all payments from the device remotely using Find my iPhone, and there will be no need to cancel your credit cards because all of your information is securely stored and only accessible by your fingerprint via TouchID. The goal is to make payments easier and more secure. 
"We have security integrated throughout both hardware and software in a way only Apple can," Eddy Cue, Apple's SVP of internet software and services, said during the presentation. 
Here's how Apple Pay will look in the Apple's app Passbook — you'll be able to choose which card you want to use for every purchase:
Apple Pay
Apple Pay
Apple also promises that it won't track what you buy or how much you paid, and the cashier won't see your name or credit card number. It will be available in the U.S. by October. 
"It's going to change the way you pay for things forever," Tim Cook said. 
Not that Apple is the first company to try mobile payments using NFC. Nokia made the first NFC-enabled smartphone way back in 2006, and it came to Android in 2010 with the Samsung Nexus S. However, Apple clearly hopes that its big list partners and ease of use will make its payments system more mainstream. 
Interestingly, the startup Stripe  — not PayPal — will be working with Apple to power Apple Pay in third-party apps, according to Mike Isaac of The New York Times: