“Apple’s Monday announcement of a credit card – the Apple Card – represented a natural progression of the company’s journey into financial services that began with the Apple Wallet app and its contactless digital payment service, Apple Pay,” Lucas Mearian writes for Computerworld.”The Apple Card, as described by the company this week, will offer users some attractive features: up to 3% cash back on daily purchases, no late or international transaction fees, and a physical chipped card make of titanium (sans any credit card numbers – just your name and an Apple symbol). Additionally, Apple is using machine learning algorithms to offer card users a real-time view of purchases, along with spending trend information.”
“Apple Card is more secure than a conventional credit card in several ways. For one, the physical card Apple will send in the mail contains no credit card number, which could otherwise be stolen,” Mearian writes. “Additionally, the virtual Apple Card doesn’t contain a visible credit card number. The only entities aware of that number is the credit card issuer and the card holder. The credit card number is encrypted and a key is used to create an alias account on the iPhone.”
“The credit card number is isolated from the mobile operating system and is never backed up to the cloud. Even if a hacker did break into and steal the credit card number, they couldn’t necessarily use it unless they got the key related to the mobile device,” Mearian writes. “In the future, Apple may could decide to cut out the bank and credit card company and become its own bank. In the meantime, the Apple Card offers a user friendly interface and attractive benefits that are likely to spur adoption.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Our only wish is that we could have Apple Card now and not have to wait until “this summer.”
SEE ALSO:
Survey shows iPhone users want the Apple Card – which could greatly increase Apple Pay usage – March 29, 2019
Apple Card: More than just a mere credit card – March 28, 2019
Apple Card’s fine print – March 28, 2019
Millions of dollars are being lost to Apple Pay fraud – Apple Card to the rescue! – March 27, 2019
Apple just revolutionized another industry with Apple Card – March 26, 2019
Introducing Apple Card, a new kind of credit card created by Apple – March 25, 2019
Same path GM took to near irrelevance in the auto industry.
Not sure you can equate large loans on big ticket items to credit cards. Credit card companies are parasites that make money from usury rates on relatively small loans. GM didn’t struggle in 2008 because of credit cards, they were smacked hard because when millions of people lost their houses, they also stopped buying cars or paying back car loans. None of the US automakers survived without government backstops.
Also, GM is the most relevant US automaker by practically any measure. Not only did they tighten up the ship and pay back their loans, today they are producing some impressive class leading products today.
Irrelevance? Apparently, you don’t have enough testosterone to know about the Corvette ZR1 with 755 hp and 715 lb-ft of torque! 😂
Wall Street was particularly unimpressed with this AppleCard. They claim it’s nothing special in terms of a credit card but simply has an Apple logo on it. I’ll admit there certainly are lots of decent credit cards out there. This Apple Card might be more secure than most credit cards but almost no one seems to concern themselves about security. I guess it’s too vague of a term. I think it’s quite a useful card but I’m sure I’m in the minority.
I’m sure it is a minority. But a minority of current iPhone users could still be 100,000,000 around the world. That’s roughly one-eighth (12.5%) of the iPhone installed base currently active and phoning home.
Any indication when it will be available in the UK?