If that's the case, how to the mobile payments companies make money?

> Meanwhile the West is shackled to cards, adding 2-3% for what? Yet stuck with cards for a while due to not starting with mobile.

IIRC, the 2-3% fees aren't due to technology, they're due to regulation and legal agreements. And it's mostly a spat between the merchants and banks, because most cards (in the US, at least) have "rewards" that remit a portion of those fees to the card user (e.g. all my cards pay me at least 1% cash back, and more in certain circumstances depending on the card).