Not from the US so may be other could chime in if any info is incorrect.
This is specifically Walmart. While Tap to Pay, or contactless payment in US did start much later than other part of the world, Apple Pay has help to move this forward since its introduction. But Walmart has refused to accept this and has relied on their own payment system. Both to capture customer's data usage and perhaps the most important thing is cutting some processing fees.
People have requested Apple Pay support to Walmart and to the point refuse to even shop at Walmart. This fight has been going on for more than a decade and now they are finally accepting the fate and market pressure.
It is perhaps interesting to note how long did Walmart hold out for this. Why? And what was the final piece of information that made them decide to accept it. Notice they said Tap to Pay, they still don't use the term contact less payment or Apple Pay.
And may be it is the submission time but I think this is actually big news and should be further up on the HN front page.
