The Apple Card was introduced in March 2019, no less than four years ago. But we still can’t carry it in our wallet. And at that time we already thought it would be a long time before we see something like this in countries like USA, but we didn’t think it would be that long. Apple’s credit card is still something unique for Americans.
And this time, it’s not a question of technological availability: it all depends on regulations and negotiations with banks. let’s see what it is What we know about a hypothetical arrival of the Apple Card in USA and all the benefits it would give us.
Apple Card in USA: everything we know
The deployment of Apple card in USA depends on several factors. The most important of these is the need to have a banking partner that provides transaction coverage. Tim Cook said the following in 2019, enjoying a trip to Germany:
We want to offer the card everywhere. However, banking products should be imported country by country as banks and regulations are different from place to place. We also want to come to Germany with her.
In other words, each country will have to have its own entity individually. There was hope that could be a negotiation at European levelbut the legislation does not allow it (the banking sector is one of the most regulated in the world).
Among the top 20 banks by volume of assets, five are of Chinese origin, four American, four others Japanese, four French, two British and one Spanish (Santander bank). Seeing this, it is obvious that Europe is a banking powerhouse and that Cupertino’s eyes are on the old continent. Being a country-to-country negotiation, Brexit should not influence this issue for the British. China and Japan are also two major powers to consider.
In the case of USA, Apple Card has other advantages that may attract the company’s attention. We only have one bank in this global ranking, but Our country has one of the largest “parks” of points of sale without contact. That is to say dataphones that make contactless card payments in companies.
Difference between Apple Pay, Apple Cash and Apple Card
With so many services related to mobile payments, it’s easy to get lost. Apple Pay, Apple Cash and Apple Card are similar services but very different in their use. The first was responsible for open the breach of the banking world for Apple, while the others are counting on its entry to develop:
- Apple Pay: allows payment in stores and on the web using our bank card. Integrated with Face ID or Touch ID to authenticate mobile payments.
- Apple Cash: is the payment between Apple users, where you can send, receive or request money between them. This is called payments equals or P2P.
- Apple Card: is the Apple credit card that integrates with Apple Pay and allows a series of unique advantages.
As for the physical Apple Card, in titanium, its launch could remain exclusive to the United States. In this country, the expansion of point-of-sale terminals without contact is slow and for this reason from Cupertino they have decided discard a physical card which works like any other, but retains the advantages of its digital version.
How Apple Card Cashback Works
The cool thing about the Apple Card is that you have a cashback program (or Cash back) depending on where or what you buy. So Apple makes you 3% of your purchases made in their products or services, 2% when using Apple Pay and 1% when not using this system. And be careful, because some stores like Nike will refund you up to 6% of the money.
This money you receive can go directly to your Apple Cash balance, or you can send it to the savings account you may have linked to the Apple Card to earn interest. In addition, its integration with the Portfolio application is complete, where we can visually see the history of our expenses.
How to buy an Apple Card in USA
For the moment it is impossible To buy an Apple Card in USA, you must be a citizen of the United States. There are no clues as to when this might happen, and since there are hardly any rumors, it looks like things are going on for a long time. The only thing that gives us hope is that Apple was looking for an expert in the field to work in Madrid earlier this year.
I guess we’ll have to see first if the card reaches stronger markets like the UK or Germany, and we’ll also have to see if the credit culture expands outside of the US.
Pictures | Venice Ayque, Pawel Czerwinski
In Applesphere | Apple Pay: what it is, how to buy and pay and which cards are compatible
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