It’s only been six months since Apple announced the Apple Pay mobile payment platform, and only a couple months since it was actually released.

In its wake, a variety of changes have taken place and the mobile payment market doesn’t look a lot like what it did not so long ago.

But one change that’s hitting some particularly hard came from Softcard, who announced plans to lay off around 60 people as part of a larger overall plan to better take on the growing market.

On the plus side, the announcement lays to rest what were described as certain rumors that the three companies that started Softcard—AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless—had likewise decided to pull the plug on the operation and stop funding it.

That saves plenty of jobs in its own right, but the reports suggest that Softcard was instead planning the layoffs in a bid to make its operations more efficient, and improve its overall ability to compete in the market by offering better service.

This isn’t the first time that Softcard has made changes; its original name was, reportedly, ISIS, before it made the change to Softcard following the rise of the terrorist organization of the same name. Back in May, the company reported 20,000 new activations a day, which should put it on reasonably sound footing as competitors arise.

A series of partnerships followed, and users could use Softcard to pay for everything from bus fare in several major cities to sandwiches at Subway and beyond.

A statement from Softcard proper, meanwhile, offered up further discussion on the company’s plans. More specifically, the company was planning to consolidate its operations into its Dallas and New York operations, meaning fewer offices open and reduced costs from there.

Why Softcard didn’t fold the laid off into those two operations instead isn’t clear, but it likely has something to do with proper staffing levels.

One thing is clear here, however; the mobile payments market is one that involves a lot of changes taking place in a comparatively short span of time, and businesses have to be proactive, or at the very least, react quickly to conditions in the field.

We’re already seeing that at least somewhat with PayPal’s move to get involved with BlackBerry, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg as far as changes in this market go.

Apple Pay is, essentially, the elephant in the room, and trying to maintain or even expand a presence with it around is likely to prove a difficult venture. That’s requiring some fairly extreme measures to keep up, measures like partnerships and even layoffs as companies seek to hold onto a competitive advantage.

What will we see as other companies attempt to hold and even gain ground in the face of an Apple juggernaut’s arrival? Only time will tell on that front, but it’s likely to prove exciting to watch all the same.