The emergence of bitcoin has nothing to do with it. These companies know that the next, "big thing" to going to be mobile payments. Eventually everyone is going to have a smart phone and everyone is going to pay for stuff by just, "swiping" your phone. In the process there will be transaction fees. Whoever's technology gets more used or widely accepted is going to make billions in pure profit. Thats why every big tech company is developing some sort of phone based payment processor.

The same technology could be applied to bitcoin and eventually will be. It is somewhere at this point that using bitcoin will be insanely easy if not easier and more convenient than traditional banking.