This is interesting because I was just exploring this idea around how all companies eventually just become banks. The example I was thinking about though was GE Capital. GE started out making stuff, then they became a bank. General Motors started out making cars, then they became a bank. Many more companies have venture arms which act like banks on a more intimate level. But still..<p>This makes sense as there are only so many macbooks, iphones, cars, generators, lightbulbs, etc.. to sell. Selling money is much much more lucrative.
I was <i>just</i> looking this morning at the cards I have attached to Apple Pay. It was then that I noticed the new card-like graphics for Apple Pay, and there is language that makes "Apple Pay" sound an awful lot like a credit card. In the information section for Apple Pay there are things like "Card details", which lists it as "Discover Debit" with what looks to be a non-active PIN (it's all zeros). "Some stores may require a PIN to complete transactions with your <i>Apple Pay Cash card</i>."<p>Granted, it's all just verbiage, but Apple launching some kind of financial instrument wouldn't shock me.
I hope that also means, that Apple Pay becomes truely available in central Europe. It is currently completely missing in Germany, and in France, while being availabe, it is only via less known banks. If Apple can't work out an agreement with the traditional big banks, having their own offering might help making Apple Pay available. (I have never understood why Apple Pay can't just charge the same credit card, the App Store uses)
I wish Apple hadn't selected the Vampire Squid[0,1]. Are there any ethical financial services providers?<p>EDIT: Service providers at scale, I mean. It's a serious question. Would you trust Wells Fargo? Bank of America? These criminal organizations get a cut of nearly everyone's transactions. There needs to be an alternative, and it's too bad a company with the resources that Apple has can't or wont do better.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-great-american-bubble-machine-20100405" rel="nofollow">https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-great-america...</a>
[1] <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jakezamansky/2013/08/08/the-great-vampire-squid-keeps-on-sucking/#25432a5e7df8" rel="nofollow">https://www.forbes.com/sites/jakezamansky/2013/08/08/the-gre...</a>
Bad idea Apple. The only reason many of us use credit cards is to collect points. Without the incentive of earning points to spend on flights and merchandise, why would I use your card?