Mark Gurman and Jennifer Surane for Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. and Barclays Plc have dropped the rewards program from their longtime credit-card partnership in advance of the debut this month of a new Apple Card with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The Apple-branded Barclays card is no longer offering $50 worth of Apple gift cards to new customers and no longer provides three points per dollar spent on Apple products, according to changes on its website.
Apple and Goldman have spent the past few months preparing their co-branded credit card, which will offer 3% cash back on Apple purchases. In new terms disclosed this week, the companies said Apple Card customers also will be offered separate financing plans for certain purchases, in addition to the ability to carry a revolving balance. The card will be introduced this month, Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook confirmed earlier this week.
Apple is planning a companion application for iPad users to be able to sign up and manage their Apple Card. Beta versions of the software update for Apple’s current iOS 12.4 operating system have hidden references to an Apple Card management app for the iPad, according to independent app developer Steve Moser.
MacDailyNews Take: Out with the old, in with the new!
We’ll be happy to be able to check and manage our Apple Card information on our iPads and iPad Pros.
I wonder if the Apple Card application will show up on IOS 13 beta that I am running on my iPhone. Any thoughts?
I know Apple wants to make complicated things simple. And that’s a good thing. But a “Card” is a physical thing, in the minds of most consumers, based upon decades of experience. Calling a “credit line” attached to ApplePay a “card” is not simplifying anything — it’s making things more complicated than they need be.
Perhaps it would benefit Apple and consumers alike for Apple to call it what it is (rather than try to change the financial terminology everyone already accepts). It’s an ApplePay credit-line. The term is much more expressive (though perhaps less impressive) and communicates reality better. Apple-Credit or Apple-Charge or whatever. Then, the “AppleCard” (introduced later) would actually be a “credit card.”
But, it IS a card.
Sooo… the physical piece of platinum with a chip in it and the Apple logo isn’t a credit card? What is it, then?
You would think if they’re phasing out the current Apple branded credit card in favor of the new Apple Card, they would give current Apple branded credit card users an easy way to swtich over. It’s highly likely that those users would want the new card anyway.