Bob Egan, an analyst at The Sepharim Group, said, Apple may be working within a new framework with mobile payments,w here Apple decides to operate as a "pseudo bank."

"Apple has to do something really revolutionary" to reduce the cost of credit card fees borne by merchants, sometimes in the 3% range," Egan said.

"Small businesses are really getting killed with those fees," he added. Even the newer technology from Square that adds a special attachment to a smartphone to swipe a credit or debit card involves a fee of nearly 3% on a merchant, he noted.

While NFC and mobile payments have not generated much consumer interest, a consortium of three wireless carriers is planning deployments of mobile payments with NFC phones this summer. The plan has added interest over to what Apple might do with the next iPhone.

But the slow movement forward with NFC payments in the U.S. is unimpressive, Egan added.