“Looking back at it, there was no shortage of announcements during Apple’s WWDC keynote on Monday. An all-new MacBook model, major updates to its desktop and mobile operating systems, and a new Maps app — not bad for an afternoon,” Cody Lee writes for iDownloadBlog.
“But amongst all of the oohs and ahhs of the new products and updates, there was one particular announcement that sort of flew under the radar,” Lee writes. “According to Apple, it now has more than 400 million active credit card-linked iTunes accounts.”
Lee writes, “At first glance, this may not seem like a very big deal. But let’s put this into some context. PayPal, arguably the most well-known digital payment provider, had somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 million accounts as of 2011. And only around 100 million of those were active. This means that Apple, for the sake of this argument, has roughly 4x the reach of the current leader in digital payments.”
Read more in the full article here.
Have long said Apple needs to have its own bank and credit card payment system. There’s money on the table here for Apple.a few percent profit for all the digital transactions that go through their store. I bet they could have a significant number of their customers using their credit cards within a short time if they wanted to do this.
Totally agree. I so much more would be willing to pay via the Apple bank instead of PayPal.
Oh heck yes! 🙂 and Having a payment system built into everyone’s iPhone / iPod / iPad would be AMAZING 😀 The convenience factor is just astronomically high.
They just have to nail the security. Someone steals your iPhone you won’t want them going on a wild shopping spree.
True. Very True. Security is the largest issue.
Maybe some sort of face recognition, a spoken passphrase, and a 4 digit pin? (all 3 or a combination of 2 of them?) to unlock your wallet?
That way it would be very hard for someone who stole your phone to use it as a wallet. And of course, as soon as it’s lost, Find My iPhone could lock the phone permanently.
Actually Apple already does have it’s own bank and credt card payment system – Apple offers 6 – 12 months financing on all it’s products on the Apple online store and has for years.
Sorry, but too much to bear, dinjin201:
it’s = it is
its = possession
Otherwise, your point well taken.
It’s autocorrected
Sigh… I know… Me too…
Yeah, that’s actually through Barclay’s Bank in Delaware and is a British banking company.
That’s not Apple. It’s through Barclay’s credit card. They have a close partnership with Apple, unless Apple owns Barclay Bank.
Not true. They use Juniper bank for their financing.
Juniper was purchased by Barclay.
Sounds good. BUT…. The big problem that I see is that Apple does not seem to understand Banking. Not really.
Someone hacked my iTunes account and charged 4-5 music/game items. Now Apple knows that I did not down load those items (their system tells me so) and they know WHO did download those items (their system should tell them so).
The problem, Apple killed my credit card for use in the store to “protect me” and said that the BANK was at fault cause it authorized them to use my card… And of course, there are not active phone lines to iTunes people to talk to. You have to use email and wait several days, hoping they understand the problem…. which they did not… They asked if I wanted to download the items AGAIN…..
So, while Apple is pretty great with hardware and software, I am still pretty scared with them and banking. ANd I just do not understand how they can be so smart and just not get banking / credit card stuff…
Just a thought.
en
That is an astonishing comparison, really snuck under the radar.
I just remember thinking, “Huh, I guess they’re bigger than Amazon..” It never occured to me to consider the cruddy Paypal shopping experience…
But how many of those Apple accounts are truly active? Also, is that total accounts, or accounts with credit card numbers? It is possible to have an account for free stuff with no credit card, or to only fund the account with iTunes cards.
I just bought my groceries using my Apple ID.
Ok, not really. But in the near future. 😉
Actually that wouldn’t be that hard, all you would need is a grocery store app, that is linked to your Apple account, this would then be an in app purchase. This won’t happen unless Apple reduces their 30% take but it could be done.
I use PayPal all the time and well, I love it. Easiest payment method in the world. I don’t know how Apple could beat that for online payments outside the App Store.
As for Passbook in iOS 6, sure, bring that on. I’d like to see an extension in payment and coupon redemption methods within the Apple ecosystem. Shame they don’t have it for the iPad. Would be a laugh to shove that in the face of those Starbucks baristas.
PayPal? Hrmph!
They’re just hunky dory until you need to get your money back on a failed transaction.
I don’t know about failed transactions but I have encountered instances where I’ve cancelled an optional item on a purchase I made. The merchant made a refund and I was promptly credited the amount by PayPal. I received an email confirmation from them too detailing the amount credited. Never had a problem with them
I thought the sleeper was “smart app banners” in Safari.
If that isn’t a Google killer, I don’t what it.
I use to have an Apple branded Visa card long ago and used the bonus points to purchase an Apple Laptop. Today I have a fragmented bonus point program from REI, United, and Chase Amazon etc. I would definitely get an Apple card or their NFC payment system for bonus points/dollars that could be spent in their iTunes and Apple stores.
@John, Silicon Valley. THIS. I think both Google and Apple are heading in that direction. Any company currently providing loyalty platforms should be very uneasy. I think Google and Apple (and MS if Balmer would stop sitting on his brain. Although this site would like him to continue 🙂 ) will have their lunch and then take the points too.
We need to think bigger. Not a new credit card or new bank, but a new currency.
Like iApples 🙂
This is why Facebook is a total joke. Apple has an active iTunes credit card connected user base that is half of facebooks’ total user population. Based on ability to monetize ones’ user base, the valuation of iTunes to AAPL’s stock should then be equivalent to the entire market cap of Facebook.