It represents all the things Apple stands for. Like simplicity, transparency, security, and privacy. You can buy things effortlessly, with just your iPhone. Or use the Apple‑designed titanium card anywhere in the world.
Mark Gurman and Julie Verhage report for Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. is ramping up a test of a digital-first credit card with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. by expanding its use to tens of thousands of the iPhone maker’s U.S. retail employees.
The Cupertino, California-based company this week launched an internal beta program for the Apple Card with its retail workers, according to people familiar with the initiative. The move marks the first major trial for the card, which has been used for several weeks by a far smaller set of Apple corporate and Goldman employees. Apple has about 70,000 retail employees globally and more than half of its locations are in the United States… Apple has asked employees not to discuss the card, although they are allowed to use it publicly to make purchases… Apple employees are testing the Apple Card in the Wallet app on iOS 12.4 and iOS 13. IOS 12.4 is expected to roll out this summer and include support for the Apple Card…
The credit card is scheduled to launch first in the U.S. in the next few months, but Apple has began discussing an expansion into Europe with financial regulators, a person familiar with the talks said.
MacDailyNews Take: We can’t wait to get our own Apple Cards. Hopefully, it’l be soon!
Headline: Tim Cook has staggering 92% approval rate from Apple employees.
Take that MDN and rabid Tim Cook bashers
What about the articles, “Is the AppleCard a TRAP?” “Is Apple trying to RUIN the lives of tens of thousands of consumers with a innocuous-looking credit card LURING them into buying Apple products?”
I always love to read all the hater articles when Apple introduces something new or simply copies something some other company has already done. I never saw any articles talking about the Amazon Card being a trap. Any credit card is just a financial tool and nothing more. If a jackass can’t curb his or her spending limits, that’s their fault and not the card service’s fault. I hope the card is a successful venture for Apple and if it entices consumers to buy more Apple products, well, that’s a good thing for loyal Apple shareholders, such as myself. Again, I only tell people to buy what they can reasonably afford and nothing more. Putting oneself in debt is bad for the economy as a whole.
People with a reasonable degree of resources are much better positioned to use financials tools as tools than a person living on the edge of solvency. Some “jackasses” break spending limits by purchasing food, gas, utilities, etc. — what most of us consider “necessities.”
You will encounter relatively few people with a more conservative perspective on their personal finances than me. And I have always been an advocate for personal responsibility. But I do not share your blanket disdain for those who get into chronic financial difficulty with revolving credit accounts. Many of these people are paid less than a living wage and have few alternatives other than expensive credit to address some expenses – expected or unexpected.
Please explain to me why banks have been paying next to nothing on deposits for nearly two decades, but credit card rates average around 16%. And that is the average. Get into trouble…make a late payment or get behind…and all of your credit cards can be (and generally are) automatically jacked to 21.99% or higher. I have heard of rates approaching 30%. And the effective rates on predatory “payday” loans can be much, much higher. I challenge you to dig your way out of that mathematical trap in combination with a low income.
Do not be so quick to disparage the spending discipline of others. When you have adequate means, it is no doubt much easier to use financial tools rather than having them use you.