The Apple card is an interesting move and part of an ongoing strategy to lock iPhone users into the Apple eco-system. This is not a card for everyone. It’s so heavily built into Apple’s hardware and software that there’s absolutely no point for Android users to even look at it.
Apple will also be hoping it drives more iPhone owners in the US towards using Apple Pay and to make purchases within its iOS ecosystem such as its App Store, micro payments in games, and peer-to-peer payments with Apple Cash, a feature only available in the US.
A Forrester survey commissioned by JP Morgan in 2017 found that only 16 per cent of U.S. consumers had used a digital wallet, and only 36 per cent of merchants accepted digital wallet payments.
Tech Analysts underwhelmed
Meanwhile tech analysts have been unimpressed by Apple Card.
Rivka Gewirtz Little, a global research director at analyst firm IDC who specialises in payments told The Verge:
“I think the strange optic here is that credit cards are not necessarily innovation in payments, even with better rates and loyalty,”
“So, to see a big tech firm, which hangs its hat on innovation, go such a traditional route — that’s what I think is a bit odd here. I’d like to see Apple get more innovative in transforming the way we pay.”