It’s made of titanium and it’s got the Apple logo on it – and that should be enough to satisfy the tech giant’s brand-loyal customer base.
I’m talking about the Apple Card, announced in March, that is now said to be launching later this month.
The new credit card is Apple’s attempt to branch out into payments, from its traditional and most lucrative role as a hardware maker. And Apple has chosen Goldman Sachs and Mastercard as its partners, offering the product as a digital card to be used with Apple Pay.
On its website, the company uses big words to promote the product, stating that the card “completely rethinks everything” about the credit card – and also represents “all the things” that Apple stands for, such things as simplicity, transparency, and – privacy.
Sounds great.
However, one way to ensure privacy in the payments segment is to allow purchase of cryptocurrencies. But that’s not something Apple is prepared to do.
Apple’s new card is undoubtably one of the most highly anticipated in recent history- and now, we are wise to the customer agreement terms, too, thanks to the financial services behemoth Goldman Sachs publishing them on its website.
According to this, cryptocurrencies are filed under cash advance and cash equivalents. Other than cryptocurrencies, this category includes casino chips, and lottery tickets.
“any cash advance and other cash-like transaction, including purchases of cash equivalents such as travelers checks, foreign currency, or cryptocurrency; money orders; peer to peer transfers, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions.”
Goldman Sachs had been warming up to the idea of cryptocurrencies, with its CEO saying in June that it should be assumed all global financial players are now “looking at the potential of tokenization, stablecoin and frictionless payments.”
But Apple, who have in the past banned crypto-mining apps from the App Store, do not appear to be equally convinced.
Whether or not the restrictive policies baked into the company’s DNA will in the long term harm its attempt to pivot to services remains to be seen.
In the meanwhile, according to reports, another thing Apple will not accept into its card scheme are jailbroken iPhones.
So much then for the card being “the most highly anticipated” of its kind. More likely, it’s another status symbol Apple will find a way to market and sell to its loyals.
