“Will you sign up for the Apple Card? You probably will, frankly,” Arielle Pardes writes for Wired. “Apple’s latest innovation, which arrives this summer, is a credit card that comes with all kinds of conveniences: No late fees! No long strings of numbers! No wait to qualify! No card, either, if you’re using it the way Apple intends. This is the money of the future—instant, invisible, and a little bit innovative—and it’s all nested beneath the beautiful glass screen of your iPhone.”
“Apple has a way of turning our everyday activities into little moments of art. The iPod changed the way we listen to music. The App Store and the multitudes it contained gave us dates on demand, personal chauffeurs, and endless photo streams of our friends’ lives,” Pardes writes. “It hopes to reinvent the magazine business. And change the way you stream TV and movies. Now, it’s gunning for the last piece of our lives that Silicon Valley hasn’t quite commandeered: your wallet.”
“Apple gives card-owners 2 percent cash back when they use their iPhone to pay, or 1 percent cash back when they swipe the physical card, built not from plastic but from titanium. Purchases at Apple stores earn 3 percent cash back,” Pardes writes. “What does Apple get out of this? For one thing, it lets its ever-growing ecosystem of apps, services, and hardware take over even more parts of your life. Want to spend money beautifully and seamlessly? You’re going to need an iPhone.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Card will be a smashing success!
“Yes, we want that physical card. We’ll use the digital card via our Apple Watches whenever possible, of course (more cash back), but we want that titanium, laser-etched card!” – MacDailyNews, March 25, 2019<
Hundreds of millions of Apple users will have or have already had the same reaction.
SEE ALSO:
Analyst: Apple Card to be a ‘significant player in the U.S. card market’ – April 4, 2019
Apple Card will be the most secure credit card ever made – April 3, 2019
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
I really don’t care if the card is made of titanium or plastic. I’m mainly interested in what the card can do for me. The Citi Double Cash Card pays 2% cash back whether one pays by ApplePay or not. For online purchase security one can generate one-time use Virtual Account Numbers with the Citi Double Cash Card. Neither the Apple Card nor the Double Cash card are valid at Costco, which requires Visa. For that use the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi, which pays 2% at Costco, 3% on travel and restaurants and 4% on gasoline; it also has no international transaction fees. Both Citi cards also offer Card Benefits like travel accident insurance and extended warranty. So, other than 3% cash back at the Apple Store, I don’t see any reason to carry the Apple Card.
That is dead on why I am getting the Apple Card – let me explain.
I am a BIG Costco VISA user, and while American Express was WAY better in service and such, we shop so much at Costco, I’m gonna use what they support.
HOWEVER, I looked at my 2018 spending. About HALF my spending was at 1%… So guess what?
Yah, I’m getting the Apple Card and when I’m not shopping at Costco or eating out of buying gas at Costco, I’m using Apple Card at the Grocery Store, clothing, anywhere I’m getting 1%.
Based on our annual spending, it’ll put about another $250 back into our pockets, and that’s a good thing.
Play the game, maximize money back and NEVER, NEVER, NEVER carry a balance – EVER. Pay that debt you spend off at the end of every billing cycle. AWAYS.
Bryan – You sound like you work for CitiBank! I agree, there are cards that match Apple’s new service for cash back. But you have to ask yourself: who do you want to have access to — and control over — your financial institution? Apple or a bank? I pick Apple.
It’s the same reason I do all my banking at a non-profit credit union, rather than at a major commercial bank. After the 2008 financial meltdown (and after reading how Wells Fargo treats its customers), I do all I can to avoid dealing with the commercial banks…
WriterGuy, It does sound like I work for CitiBank, doesn’t it? But I don’t. I have zero love for CitiBank, but they have competitive rewards. I use my American Express Blue Cash Everyday card only at Supermarkets for 3% cash back. I use my Chase Amazon Prime Visa on Amazon for 5% cash back. I just don’t see any economic reason to have the Apple Card. And as far as my financial information, it’s true that Apple won’t have access to my info, but the Apple Card will be powered by Goldman Sachs . . . talk about involvement in the 2008 financial meltdown. They were practically ground zero.
My ‘set’ of credit cards are similar. Amex Blue for Groceries (3%); Discover and Chase Freedom (rotating 5% categories); Chase Amazon Prime Visa (5% at Amazon and Whole Foods); and Citi Double Cash Mastercard and Capital One Quicksilver Visa (no limit 2% and 1.5% respectively) for everything else. I’m also considering the Savor card (no annual fee version) that would give me unlimited 3% for all dining and entertainment.
The problem is that though Apple does not have access to your financial information, Goldman Sachs surely does and then you’re in the same boat as every other card holder regarding financial info. Apple made a hard decision when they added a physical Apple Card in their offering.
Why does MDN keep asking to use my location, over and over…
because this site is a giant nest of malware ads if you aren’t running blockers, and they are probably also profiting off any data about you they can. the people who run this site talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk.
I already get 2% cash back on everything with another card. Other cards give me anywhere from 3% to 5% cash back on things like travel, restaurants and gasoline. Even with 3% cash back at Apple Stores many Apple products are now to expensive for me to seriously consider ($1000+ for a phone?!?!?!). Apple can keep their card and I will keep the extra cash I earn with other cards.
these guys are nuts!!! who in their right mind would want a credit card with such a high interest rate. No one cares what it looks like, or that it’s from Apple. Not a smart card, completely worthless. I would rather see a debit card with this functionality.
The high interest rate probably covers them in lieu of late fees. Sounds more attractive to say you don’t have late fees and still collect the same amount as lower interest cards’ late fees.
I hope Apple Card is just another step towards Apple getting a banking license and becoming a full on Challenger Bank/Fin-Tech Company.
Europe and particularly the UK, has many great examples of this new crop of mobile first banks. The incoming enhanced Wallet app really feels like Apple is heading down this path.
Hopefully it would push some of the more established banks around the world to modernise their services. It would also be a great use of Apple’s stupidly large cash pile, they have more than enough to back several banks.
The fact is there’s plenty of room in the market, it’s not a zero sum game. Many people have multiple credit cards or bank accounts, whats one more?
It’s for this reason why I think Apple Card will be such a success, people can easily apply for it and just use it when they want. It doesn’t mean they have to give up their existing credit cards and the other benefits that come with them. It’s just another choice for consumers and that’s great.
I suppose the difference is that Apple would prefer its card to be the primary card. Those with multiple cards will be weighing the benefits of the other cards they own vs Apple Card’s privacy/security. I suspect for the vast majority of multiple card owners Apple Card will end up as the 3rd or 4th card at which point privacy/security (the only real benefit for AC) was not the deciding factor to acquire it.
give me that Ti card – LOVE IT!
No, really won’t. I personally doubt it’ll be any bigger than Apple Watch. Not a failure, per se, but definitely niche. Apple Pay has been around a good while, and I seldom see contactless payments in general. It isn’t really any more convenient than using a modern card at this point, definitely less convenient than cash, which requires no device of any kind.
I guess analysts have to produce words to get paid, though, even if those words are wildly-presumptive conjecture. The attempts at pumping the stock (that less than twenty years ago they openly mocked and laughed at) is pretty transparent.
Don’t see any benefit of the Apple Card except for the 3% at Apple store. Virtually every place I use a credit card, i simply tap (if it’s under $100) – simply the easiest. Over $100 I enter a pin. How is Apple Card any easier
If a store offers Apple Pay, it takes a card that can tap. But virtually every where accepts payment by simply tapping the credit card
??
I’d consider it, but only if I can set up auto-pay from my checking account so that I pay in full on time every month the way I do all the rest of as many of my recurring expenses as humanly possible.
Can anyone advise me?