Apple launched a credit card at the “Show Time” event called Apple Card, which will be integrated into the Apple Pay service on iPhones, as well as being available as a laser-etched titanium card.
The card, issued on the Mastercard network, gives users 2 per cent cash back, with no annual charges or late fees. The company did not say what interest rate would be charged at launch but Jennifer Bailey, vice-president of Apple Pay, said: “Our goal is to provide each customer with the lowest rate in the industry.”
The card is an actual titanium-based MasterCard credit card made in partnership with Goldman Sachs.
The card also resides in your iPhone and other iOS devices, in the Wallet app, and is protected by FaceID and TouchID, Apple’s suite of biometric authentication. Apple will issue per-device card numbers which is stored securely in your iPhone. The card also doesn’t have a CVV number and no expiration date.
Apple will also offer money back in the form of “Daily Cash”. You get 2 percent Daily Cash every time you pay from Apple Pay, 3 percent when you purchase directly from Apple, and 1 percent when use the physical card. Daily cash can be used just like any other cash.
“Apple doesn’t know what you bought, where you bought it, and how much you paid for it,” the company said promising total privacy.
Apple also announced Goldman Sachs will “never share or sell your data to third parties for marketing”. Every transaction will be done on-device and not on Apple’s servers.
The Apple Card, which will roll out this summer on the MasterCard network, is Goldman’s first foray into credit cards and the ultimate impact on the bank’s financial results depends on how aggressive it is willing to be in extending credit.
At Apple’s product launch event on Monday, Tim Cook, chief executive, said that the Apple Card would be the biggest card innovation “in 50 years”. David Solomon, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, echoed the sentiment, saying that “Apple Card completely changes the credit card experience”.
Apple also made its Apple Pay service more useful. It will aim to help you lead a healthy financial life by tracking your spending and making budgets. You can now use Apple Pay internationally, with Apple claiming the payment service has over 99 percent penetration in Australia and 80 percent in Canada and other first world countries.
The company didn’t disclose the interest rate it will charge, though. “Lower interest rates” is what Apple said. You can also only use the card in places that accepts Apple Pay.
The new physical card will carry only Apple’s logo and the user’s name, on a plain background. All other information is held in the card’s chip and inside the iPhone’s Wallet app. Apple said the card would be released in the US “this summer” but did not say whether it had plans to roll it out more widely.
