When Apple announced Pay, their solution to mobile payments, one of the biggest questions still swirling around the service immediately after its debut was, “Will it use NFC?” The question was something that’s been on the minds of a lot of people for a very long time now, as the company has seemingly been against near field communications right from the get-go. So, would Apple continue with their own ideas, their own efforts, or finally adopt what, more or less, everyone else was using?

This situation was very similar to the Blu-ray or HD DVD fiasco that happened several years ago. A battle between two methods of doing something. Eventually, in a situation like that, one has to win out. Back then, it was Blu-ray. Now, it’s NFC. Apple’s Bluetooth LE/iBeacon initiative didn’t take off like they expected, and the easiest solution for mobile payments wasn’t that route. Instead they opted to go with NFC, and now everyone on the planet knows that when it comes to mobile payments, NFC is going to be the standard.

It doesn’t matter that Android has been using NFC for a wide assortment of things, including mobile banking/payments where supported. Now that Apple has done it, and thrown their own hat into the ring, the focus has never been bigger. Apple has already shown a huge support for the mobile payment movement, even managing to net themselves a nice percentage from the whole thing, and businesses/retailers/whoever else are going to jump on board.

Even the companies that haven’t agreed (and there are two notable exceptions from the growing list of supporters) will probably eventually change their mind.

The question, though, is will consumers?

There was a report published not too long ago that says now that banks are going to support mobile payments in a big way, that maybe this is the beginning of the end for the physical bank card. That, within two or three years, we’ll see the end of those cards, both in debit and credit varieties. Sooner, rather than later.

I’m sitting here, wondering if I’d be willing to do that. As I’ve said in the past, I haven’t really used mobile payments for much of anything, but that hasn’t been due to a lack of desire, but more a lack of support in business around me (back then). Now, though, I know that more companies are going to start offering the option right there at the point of sale, and I can’t help but wonder if I’m ready to pull out my phone to pay for something, rather than my card.

I won’t lie: not having to replace a card would be great. Though, replacing a phone is quite a bit more expensive, so there is that to consider. And, would it actually make anything easier? What if the phone option doesn’t work, and then I have to pull out the card anyway? And that paranoia would probably mean I’d carry the card with me anyway, so that essentially defeats the point, right?

But, what do you think? Are you going to ditch your card to opt for only mobile payments? Let me know!