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Apple Card Launches For Everyone. Now Credit Is As Private As Cash

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Apple Card is launching this morning to every Apple customer in the U.S., the company announced this morning.

With the launch Apple takes one more step away from the old Apple Computer, or even the Apple mobile company that has become of the most valuable companies in the world, and another step towards technology-mediated services.

And now credit is as private as cash.

Apple Card is a credit card launched with Goldman Sachs and processed by Mastercard. It has no fees, is intended to be used primarily without a physical card via Apple Pay on an iPhone, and embeds a level of payment privacy that doesn't currently exist outside of cash transactions.

Apple doesn't know where you shop, what you bought, or how much you paid. Goldman Sachs, the bank behind the credit card, will never sell or share data to third-party companies, revealing your spending habits to advertisers. And Mastercard simply processes payments between parties on the global network.

This is a game-changer.

Currently credit card companies including Mastercard sell transaction data in real-time to hedge funds and others. The data can be used to model changes in the economy as well as to target ads.

While it's theoretically anonymous, the data could potentially be de-anonymized. Consumers can opt out, but they have to take active steps to do so, and since finance companies make hundreds of millions of dollars annually from this data sale, they're not incentivized to make it easy for you.

In addition to privacy, Apple Card uses AI to model your purchases, helping you understand where your money goes on a real-time basis.

In addition, it has a super-simple rewards model: cash back, instantly.

The highest cash-back benefits are when you use mobile-enabled Apple Pay with your Apple credit card: up to 3%. Purchases with the physical credit card — made out of titanium — get 1% back.

If you need support ... simply text Apple for help.

“We’re thrilled with the overwhelming interest in Apple Card and its positive reception,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay. “Customers have told us they love Apple Card’s simplicity and how it gives them a better view of their spending.”

While Mastercard does process payments, most of the value generated by customer use of the new Apple Card will accrue to Apple and to Goldman Sachs. That further diversifies Apple revenue away from devices — primarily iPhones — and towards services.

It also further embeds Apple technology even more deeply into its customers' lives, many of whom communicate with an Apple iPhone, work with an Apple MacBook, stay fit with an Apple Watch, listen to music with Apple AirPods, and now, perhaps, will pay with Apple Card.

The company's commitment to privacy is laudable, but consolidating all of its customers' data and technology needs more and more to one company could still pose a long-term threat to privacy and/or security if Apple or its technology ever get hacked.

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