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Another day, another disruption in the payments universe. Just since we released the latest SRM Academy report on the next wave of payments disruptors, real-world examples of this phenomenon have emerged on a near daily basis. At the crest of the latest wave, Apple’s much-hyped credit card has moved beyond the bleeding edge and entered full rollout mode, complete with the barrage of enticing TV commercials Apple is known for. 

We were well aware of the Apple Card’s imminent arrival when drafting the latest SRM Academy report on the next wave of payments disruption. The new credit card is an important development, but not an earth-shattering one. Stepping back from the breathless hype that accompanies any Apple product launch, this is more an incremental step in a trend that has been ongoing for some time.

Is cash dead? You could certainly reach that conclusion based on recent headlines. The story on the front lines isn’t so simple, however. NCR, a global POS and ATM service provider, recently launched its Silver One tablet-based point of sale platform, a clear counter to the success of competitors like Square and Clover, and a play for the next generation of small business retailers. Given this strategic push, you’d expect NCR to be firmly on the “cash is dead” bandwagon.

Speaking at FinTech South the day after Silver’s rollout, NCR acknowledged that while digital retail transactions are growing briskly, old-fashioned currency and coins aren’t going away anytime soon. Cash is still used in nearly one-third of all counter transactions, it reported, a ratio that varies meaningfully by geography and demographic.

One of the most closely watched contests in consumer banking is the battle for P2P supremacy between Zelle and Venmo. Zelle is touted as the bank-friendly alternative, owing to its status as an offering of Early Warning, itself owned by a consortium of the largest U.S. banks. Zelle has reported eye-popping growth figures, stemming from the embrace by its market-leading owner banks and surpassing Venmo volumes by most measures.

Venmo, on the other hand, remains the app of choice for the coveted Millennial and Generation Z cohorts. Zelle has yet to attain the “verb” status of its rival (“I’ll Venmo you…”), which has managed to hold onto its cachet as few consumers realize Venmo is now owned by the not-as-cool-as-it-once-was PayPal.

We all know intellectually that the mobile phone has revolutionized Americans’ daily lives. The changes have accumulated so gradually, however, that sometimes taking a step back is necessary to appreciate the enormity of the shift.

For one thing, the “phone” portion of the “mobile phone” is clearly on borrowed time. The voice capabilities of these devices in our pockets have already become a quaint afterthought. It’s been over a decade since texts surpassed audio calls as the main driver of cellular network traffic. Add streaming and apps to the mix and you’ve got an entirely different value proposition than the “portable” communications handsets once tethered to automobiles.

The one constant across my nearly 20 years in the payments business is that things have never stood still long enough to get boring. Starting with the days when consumers’ only payment options were cash, checks and house credit (okay, that was a lot more than 20 years ago), merchants and financial services innovators have continued to add new payments alternatives at a dizzying pace. And just as importantly, they haven’t retired any.

The reinvention of financial services has been underway for decades. Some may argue it’s been overhyped, but clearly most Americans bank in different ways than they did 20 years ago. This may be a case study of the Bill Gates adage, that humans overestimate the potential for near-term change but underestimate it in the long run.