4 ms·

I don't think Apple will become a bank. They could however replace VISA and Mastercard in the long term, and grab the 2% to 5% of payment fee over each transact

I don't think Apple will become a bank. They could however replace VISA and Mastercard in the long term, and grab the 2% to 5% of payment fee over each transaction. Vertical integration to its best. To get there, merchants need to support Apple Pay, and Apple needs to continue selling phones. In the near future, there will be more Apple Pay enabled devices in circulation than VISAs and Mastercards. When the scale tips, credit cards will be doomed.

TheLogothete 11y ago
Don't you need credit cards to use apple pay?
- dyladan 11y ago
  Sure, now. In 5 years who knows? I could definitely see AAPL partnering with visa/mastercard/amex or even directly with banks for direct account access on a program that doesn't require a physical card. Plastic cards will become the new cash (right now cash-only businesses are a little behind the times but they still exist) and phone payments will become the new plastic.
  - TheLogothete 11y ago
    Partnering? Sure! I think this will be the way forward, but the GP says Apple is out to get VISA and MC (as companies) and will leapfrog them with one clean swoop. This will most definitely not happen.
- The_Magistrate 11y ago
  Currently, yes. The article is positing that once Apple has the infrastructure in place for end-to-end transactions, removing the VISA/MC puzzle piece will be easy. Ultimately, you'd put money into an Apple account and spent it on your iPhone.
  - TheLogothete 11y ago
    I don't think you are very familiar with how the payments industry works. Credit cards offer much more than a means to pay. Apple will need to double their headcount to compete with Visa. Or do you think that this is a feasible scenario?
    - martin_drapeau 11y ago
      I don't think so. The payment industry is over complicated and in my mind a real commodity. Apple is in a good position to simplify that.
RockyMcNuts 11y ago
2% to 5% for moving bits around, with a smattering of security and antifraud, is no way to run a modern payments system. It didn't even cost that much to move cash and checks around in the old days. Retailers, for whom it's a big chunk of their margins, are up in arms about it, the Fed is up in arms about it and pushing a move to intraday EFT and ACH, and tech like Bitcoin and better security of e.g. Apple Pay is moving against it. Payments are going to change. For all the over the top rhetoric, the basic claim that securing the device against any and all hackers is critical to Apple's brand and ambitions, and the idea that Apple could do an end-run around the credit card companies and banks and try to run the table in payments, are totally on target. Keep in mind that Apple gives law enforcement everything it knows in response to a legit request, the phone doesn't make the payments system less transparent to law enforcement. On the contrary, Apple's ability to maintain a closed garden is key to maintaining a degree of control over payments and comms.

TheLogothete 11y ago

Don't you need credit cards to use apple pay?

dyladan 11y ago
Sure, now. In 5 years who knows? I could definitely see AAPL partnering with visa/mastercard/amex or even directly with banks for direct account access on a program that doesn't require a physical card. Plastic cards will become the new cash (right now cash-only businesses are a little behind the times but they still exist) and phone payments will become the new plastic.
- TheLogothete 11y ago
  Partnering? Sure! I think this will be the way forward, but the GP says Apple is out to get VISA and MC (as companies) and will leapfrog them with one clean swoop. This will most definitely not happen.
The_Magistrate 11y ago
Currently, yes. The article is positing that once Apple has the infrastructure in place for end-to-end transactions, removing the VISA/MC puzzle piece will be easy. Ultimately, you'd put money into an Apple account and spent it on your iPhone.
- TheLogothete 11y ago
  I don't think you are very familiar with how the payments industry works. Credit cards offer much more than a means to pay. Apple will need to double their headcount to compete with Visa. Or do you think that this is a feasible scenario?
  - martin_drapeau 11y ago
    I don't think so. The payment industry is over complicated and in my mind a real commodity. Apple is in a good position to simplify that.

RockyMcNuts 11y ago

2% to 5% for moving bits around, with a smattering of security and antifraud, is no way to run a modern payments system. It didn't even cost that much to move cash and checks around in the old days. Retailers, for whom it's a big chunk of their margins, are up in arms about it, the Fed is up in arms about it and pushing a move to intraday EFT and ACH, and tech like Bitcoin and better security of e.g. Apple Pay is moving against it. Payments are going to change. For all the over the top rhetoric, the basic claim that securing the device against any and all hackers is critical to Apple's brand and ambitions, and the idea that Apple could do an end-run around the credit card companies and banks and try to run the table in payments, are totally on target. Keep in mind that Apple gives law enforcement everything it knows in response to a legit request, the phone doesn't make the payments system less transparent to law enforcement. On the contrary, Apple's ability to maintain a closed garden is key to maintaining a degree of control over payments and comms.