The AirPods of Credit Cards

Apple Card

Apple has decided to enter a few different industries with their most recent keynote on March 25, 2019, one large one is the world of personal finance. Apple claims they want people to be able to use a credit card without all the typical fears that come with them. They promise no fees ever, not even late fees. Which, anyone with a credit card can tell you is one of the worst things about having one.

An additional benefit that apple has when coming into this space, is the fact that they can add lots of nifty features using their apple wallet utility. The card already promises to have the ability integrate into your wallet app within minutes of applying for the card. But down the line this could mean even more functionality as they find different features that could be useful to consumers. So in that respect, they have quite the advantage.

A Credit Card Out of Thin Air?

Not necessarily, Apple announced that they were partnering with Goldman Sachs and MasterCard, because even apple can’t just make whatever they want, without some help. So with these 3 giants in their respective industries, this card hopes to become your everyday card.

Daily Cash

This is what Apple has decided to call their rewards, so instead of getting points, they want to give you redeemable cash, which they say comes at 3% on your Apple purchases. Otherwise, the card gives 2% cashback on all purchase, with the caveat that you must use apple pay. Otherwise, if you use the physical Apple card, you will receive 1%. So the beautiful laser etched card is only useful if you like to get less savings on your purchases, which is unfortunate.

Ultimate Purchase Tracking

Would it be an innovative payment method without the ability to track every little detail? Apple doesn’t think so, so if you make a purchase with your Apple card, then you will be able to view a large array of metrics on your spending habits, the frequency of your spending, and the category with which you spend the most. As I mentioned, the fact that Apple can integrate an unlimited amount of features and metrics into their apple wallet does benefit them greatly. However, an initial fear from consumers might be, the security of the information required to get such metrics. Apple does promise that all of the metrics and data are handled client side on your individual device however, so none of the purchase information is ever on Apple’s servers. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen, but for Apple’s sake I hope it is.

The Future of Credit Cards?

I wouldn’t go as far as to say Apple is going to take over the credit card market. As there are cards who’s reward programs outshine Apple’s in many ways, however, as an introduction into the space, I’d say it will definitely make a statement. I believe that apple will continue to make improvements to their card and might even make moves into other sectors of the personal finance space. Overall, it is an interesting move for the tech company, and could very well, be a profitable one.