If so, that is a straight up lie. Apple worked with Clover/First Data to develop their payment app. The rest of the back-end technology has been years in progress, especially with the likes of Google and other failed attempts of mobile payment endeavors, mainly due to the lack of a secure element that they could freely open to customers to facilitate the EMV transaction. However, Google developed HCE to get over this hurdle and keep the telecommunications companies out of it completely. Apple has some impeccable timing with the release of Apple Pay, but also should be given some credit to tie all the loose ends and bring it to fruition.