This week, an Apple product is celebrating a milestone birthday that Europeans probably only see on holidays (or with Americans): Apple Card, Apple’s in-house credit card, turns five years old. It has been on the market since August 2019 and – after Apple Pay – marked Apple’s major entry into the financial services sector.
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Fully Integrated, Fully USA
Apple Card is deeply integrated into the company’s ecosystem. Users order the card on the iPhone and can then use it (almost) immediately on the Apple Watch, Mac or iPad, receiving the invoice on the iPhone and making all the settings there. The product is also customer-friendly – despite the high interest rates, you should not pay the full amount every month – there are no hidden fees. But rumors of internationalization were repeatedly dismissed. In addition, there were always problems internally: Apple’s banking partner Goldman Sachs (GS) has long wanted to get out of the business.
The Apple Card is also available physically. The product, based on the MasterCard network, also comes in the form of a beautifully designed titanium card that can be used when a store does not allow contactless payments with Apple Pay. Initially GS seemed to be an ideal partner: at the time of the Apple Card’s launch, the financial giant was in the process of investing in the private client business and wanted to come first to Great Britain and then possibly also to the European Union. However, this strategy is now buried because it cost the bank a lot of money. Accordingly, the Apple Card always remained a local product; Apple was not even able to supply to other English-speaking countries.
Questions about the future of Apple Card
There were occasional problems in practical use over five years. Apple and GS initially had to accept accusations of discrimination when the offer was activated. The very successful Apple Savings savings account, which is linked to the card, had difficulties with the speed of payments. Finally, GS’s service was also criticized because its hotline and email service was less quickly accessible than other services offered to Apple customers.
The future of the Apple Card is in limbo: Goldman Sachs will have to find a new partner in the coming years after the contract expires. American Express was always considered a possible candidate, as it follows a similar service philosophy to Apple and is also available internationally. But it may be that the business is not profitable enough for the company. Alternatively, Apple could also become a bank itself and thus issue credit cards directly – which is not even in the rumor circle yet.
(B.Sc.)
