It’s a dangerous business to bet against Apple’s ability to make a product that you didn’t think you needed as part of your daily life. But “Apple Pay” looks as if it may be one of those offerings that don’t live up to the company’s hype. It would seem that in Mr. Cook’s mind, the current process of a retail transaction is something actually resembling the series of horrors described above. The core challenge Apple faces is that buying things with a credit card isn’t nearly as onerous a process as they make it out to be.

Mr. Cook showed a video at the product rollout of a woman burrowing in her purse for a credit card, navigating past a box of Tic Tacs — Tic Tacs! — and struggling to open her wallet in order to find her card, then being asked to show her driver’s license before completing the transaction. It had a lot in common, actually, with those infomercials in which actors manage to horribly bungle the most basic tasks until some new product solves a nonproblem.

Apple Pay does appear to be more secure than plastic credit cards. As Mr. Cook pointed out in the presentation, a credit card reveals all the necessary information for a thief to exploit and go on a shopping spree, whereas Apple Pay requires the purchaser’s fingerprint to run a charge. The only problem from Apple Pay: The costs of fraud are borne by credit card issuers, and sometimes retailers themselves. Just ask Target, and now Home Depot, both of which have faced huge data breaches and are paying the price.

So you can see how banks and retailers will be enthusiastic about switching to a more secure way of paying. Indeed, Apple has already lined up giant banks — including Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo — and giant retailers, including McDonald’s, Walgreens and Macy’s, to use the service.