Apple and investment bank Goldman Sachs plan to launch a joint credit card later this year, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The report claims the card will be rolled out to Apple employees for internal testing in the next few weeks and officially launch later this year. The card would be accessible through the Wallet app on iPhone, potentially with unique features for setting spending goals, tracking rewards, and managing balances.
Executives have discussed borrowing visual cues from Apple's fitness-tracking app, where "rings" close as users hit daily exercise targets, and sending users notifications about their spending habits. There also could be notifications based on analysis of cardholders' spending patterns, alerting them for example if they paid more than usual for groceries one week.
The card will be issued by Goldman Sachs and use Mastercard's payment network, according to the report. The card is said to offer around two percent cashback on most purchases and potentially more on Apple products and services.
Apple has tweaked the Wallet app's interface in the iOS 12.2 beta, potentially foreshadowing the credit card's arrival.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on these plans last year, noting that the Goldman Sachs card could replace the Barclaycard Visa with Apple Rewards currently issued in the United States. Apple is expected to collect a higher percentage of fees from the Goldman Sachs card, boosting its services revenue.
Top Rated Comments
/walks away slowly shaking head in disappointment:(:oops:
Goldman Sachs is a literal hot garbage organization.
Wow! Colour me impressed…
I have to wonder whether by 'spending goals' they mean 'spend at least £X,000 per month in credit' (preferably on Apple products and services) gotta close those rings o_O/s
Apple made the computer accessible and fun. It’s easy to forget but computers were for crunching numbers, mostly the realm of nerds who knew how to operate the command line. The Mac changed everything.
Apple disrupted music in the same way. The iPod came at a time when piracy was rampant. It was a terrible experience though. You’d download programs like Napster or Limewire and download music, not knowing if you’d get a bad recording and would end up with a junk pile of disorganized mislabelled music in folders. iPod + iTunes made it easy to pay a fair price for music and get a properly organized collection. That’s why it became so popular that nobody ever really caught up.
Apple is now pursuing two other sectors that absolutely need to be disrupted. Health and financial services. Both are full of bureaucracy and not consumer friendly. The only ones who do well in either are insiders or experts in those fields.
Apple is on one hand opening up health records to make our data our data, easily accessible and making it useful by helping us to be proactive and knowledgeable to improve our own health.
Now, on the other hand, most of us hate having to deal with banks, hidden fees and overly complicated services. Apple Pay has already made it easier and safer on the transaction side. Money management and growth is the next obvious step. I’m very interested to see what Apple does here.
http://fortune.com/2016/04/11/goldman-sachs-doj-settlement/
Having Apple team with them is very disappointing - its almost like having Apple partner with the mob on a credit card - especially since Goldman is not a normal bank and doesn't normally do credit cards (that I know of). There must be something special in it for Goldman, for them to be doing this....I'd much rather have Apple stick with Barclay.