The Digital Skeptic: Apple Saw Truth About Making iPhone 5 a Credit Card

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- While Apple (AAPL) skipped actual mobile payments in its Wednesday rollout of the iPhone 5, smartphone makers such as Google (GOOG) and Samsung are workin' it hard to have their gear play the role of credit cards. Apps such as Google Wallet and other near-field communications technologies are sneaking into phones including the Galaxy S III and HTC EVO as well as several BlackBerry (RIMM) devices.

The ridiculously thin and fast iPhone 5 boasts a blazingly powerful processor that supports an upgraded iOS 6 with Passbook, a centralized coupon and ticket service, improved Siri voice control for commerce apps and business-oriented mapping features.

It's easy to see the dollars phone makers lust after. Electronically brokered transactions, a la Visa (V) , MasterCard (MA) or bank transfers grossed up to a simply massive $34 trillion last year. That according to National Automated Clearinghouse Association, the industry trade group for the business of moving money via networks.

To put that in perspective: It's the gross domestic product of the U.S. roughly twice over.

The total take for electronics transfer can vary, but prices are steep. Banks levy double-digit fees for funds transfer, and the swipe fees, equipment costs, interchange and discount charges suck more than a few percentage points out of every MasterCard, Visa or American Express (AXP) transaction. Even new age, nominally cheap fund transaction services such as San Francisco-based Square, which allow any iPhone to accept credit cards, still charge a stiff 2.75% per transaction.

The issue is that the young turks of moving money electronically on networks know the real truth.

"The financial network is just a network," Ben Milne, the founder of Dwolla, told me recently. "Moving money on it is not as complex and expensive as those who currently move it want you to believe."