Roger Fingas
Apple Card testing has reached the company's U.S. retail staff ahead of a launch in the next few months, a report said on Wednesday.
Workers are allowed to make purchases publicly, but not discuss any details, Bloomberg sources said. The company is allegedly notifying retail employees via internal messages, at which point they can sign up directly via their iPhones.
Those people should get physical versions of their cards within 2 to 3 weeks.
A smaller group has been testing the Apple Card since May. The product will go live for the public when iOS 12.4 launches within the next few months, Bloomberg added, noting that testing is underway with both that software and the iOS 13 beta.
The U.S. card is being developed in conjunction with Goldman Sachs. While it's primarily digital, a real-world titanium card will let people make purchases where Apple Pay isn't an option. Apple is promising no regular fees, and cash-back rewards on things like its hardware.
The company is already in talks with financial regulators about expanding into Europe, one source claimed.
Wesley Hilliard
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17 Comments
Looks like Apple meant to say Fall for Apple Card too..
My cousin who follows Apple/Google saw AppleCard and said in an irritated tone "they're gonna make GoogleCard now?"
I know this will WANT to be copied but will Google be able to pull something like this off? Given the fact they're less secure, data mine etc. and it can conflict with banks interests?
Google has already tried something similar: Google Wallet.
When it debuted back in 2013, it featured a physical plastic card that one could fund as a debit card (i.e., directly from a linked checking account) and allowed for peer-to-peer transactions via Gmail. At some point, NFC contactless transactions were dropped and the Wallet brand was finally abandoned in 2016 in favor of Android Pay (which was not supported on non-Android devices).
Google Wallet was never a credit card and did not offer cash back refunds, credit nor similar credit card related benefits. Its only real benefit was the elimination of debit card transaction fees more common with entry level checking accounts. If you had a decent checking account, the Google Wallet card offered very little value add.
I had one of these Google Wallet debit cards for a while but after carefully examining its capabilities, I decided that it provided no value to me. I never carried it in my wallet, it lived in a binder on a bookshelf at home.
If I recall correctly, it was actually a MasterCard branded debit card with the appropriate logo, sixteen digit card number and other information printed on the back. It was not an EMV chip card, just a magnetic stripe card so the card security was not noteworthy.