WATCH OUT: Here's How Apple Pay Could Get You To Spend More

The launch is a huge win for 220,000 participating retailers because it's likely Apple Pay will get shoppers to spend more money, writes Kyle Stock at Bloomberg Businessweek.

"Researchers have long found that shoppers spend more the further they get from handling actual currency and tend to better remember cash transactions," Stock writes. "These tendencies help explain why credit card balances tend to bloat and why casinos use chips in place of money."

And Stock writes that Apple Pay, which lets shoppers purchase with a touch of a finger, offers an "additional degree of distance," which could in turn make them spend more.

ReutersApple announced its new payment system in September.

Analysts believe that Apple Pay will soon be ubiquitous.

The service works with American Express, Mastercard, Visa, and major banks like Chase, Capital One, and PNC.

Retailers who have signed on include Walgreen's, McDonald's, Target, and Chipotle.

"Apple has a devoted fan base and the unique ability to change consumer behavior on a large scale," according to a recent report by BI Intelligence.

A majority of US tech consumers said they would absolutely use Apple Pay, according to a survey of Business Insider readers.

BII