Apple announces Apple Card credit card • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#381

Post by crooked-v » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 7:31 PM UTC

apeace wrote: post #365

> Apple doesn’t know what you bought, where you bought it, and how much you paid for it But surely many intermediaries do know this information and store it forever? I'm not sure I see the value of Apple not knowing this information, when credit cards are inherently one of the most trackable and most-tracked purchasing mechanisms ever.

> I'm not sure I see the value of Apple not knowing this information

The value to them is the ability to consistently use "we care about your privacy" as a marketing tagline on new product launches.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#382

Post by saryant » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 7:32 PM UTC

naravara wrote: post #358

kerbalspacepro wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and ultimately Goldman Sachs is a bank and will be held accountable for anything that happens. This is a GS product that Apple gets a significant cut of.

>Yes, and ultimately Goldman Sachs is a bank and will be held accountable for anything that happens. The jokes almost write themselves. . .

Retail banking, especially credit, is much more regulated than the investment banking shenanigans that led to the 2008 crisis.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#383

Post by r00fus » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 7:33 PM UTC

jonlorusso wrote: post #176

Shivetya wrote: post #36

I am impressed, however this any some of the other products announced are just a pinata for anti trust advocates. however this product to me is the premier product of the event. finally someone is taking credit card use to the next level in both usability, features, and security. Most important is the level of privacy they are offering. Now if the three percent discount holds true it will be the defacto means of purc…

> this and some of the other products announced are just a pinata for anti trust advocates. I imagined Elizabeth Warren in a fit of rage sitting in her office watching the livestream.

Why? I think EW is more worried about bigger fish than Apple's entrance into a crowded market.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#384

Post by nutjob2 » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 7:33 PM UTC

spectramax wrote: post #168

One of the reasons for having a Credit Card for me is the protection from shady merchants, fraudulent transactions and the assurance of getting my money back if there is a major issue with product/service. AMEX once refunded me $1800 for speakers that were damaged in shipping with some documentation, photos and details about the issue. Now, customer service varies from bank to bank but AMEX has always had the best cu…

I beg to differ on that one. When it comes to shonky hotels, Amex, from my experience, will side with them, given that they know what side their bread is buttered on.

By comparison my Chase/Visa sided with me when I was ripped off by a shady accommodation listing.

I agree totally with the sentiment though, also the 1-2% cash back is great.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#385

Post by Rebelgecko » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 7:34 PM UTC

eridius wrote: post #213

throwawaysea wrote: post #172

I don't thing it is healthy to have big entities like this control fundamental services like payment processing. How long before the opaque governance of the App Store is applied to their payments offering? How long before activists start making this a new vector for deplatforming? Apple also announced a news offering ( https://www.techradar.com/news/apple-news-plus ) and I think the same concerns apply there.

Apple said they've engineered the service such that Apple does not know what you're purchasing or even what vendors you're shopping at. If Apple doesn't know this, they can't very well apply arbitrary rules to it.

I don't quite understand that, since the linked article says Apple will "use machine learning and Apple Maps to label stores that you use in the app, and use that data to track purchases across categories like “food and drink” or “shopping.”"

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#386

Post by OkGoDoIt » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 7:34 PM UTC

If the credit card does not have any numbers on it, how do you make purchases online on sites that don’t directly accept Apple Pay? Does the Wallet app on your iPhone generate virtual card numbers on request that you can use online? Or are you only allowed to use it at websites that explicitly accept Apple Pay? I read through all the official Apple PR stuff and the fine print, don’t see any mention of this.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#387

Post by microdrum » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 7:36 PM UTC

amluto wrote: post #376

This sounds like a mediocre credit card (2% back but only with Apple Pay — if you’re okay with cash back on only some transactions, there are much better cards) with some benefit in the form of a nice experience. I guess that, if Apple’s marketing power can sell a ton of these, there’s considerable upside for them, but it doesn’t sound like a truly impressive innovation.

It's 2% cash back on Apple Pay, 3% cash back on Apple products, and 1% cash back on non-Apple Pay, non-Apple products.

Do you know a better card that always gives 2% cash back, no cap?

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#388

Post by OkGoDoIt » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 7:37 PM UTC

OkGoDoIt wrote: post #386

If the credit card does not have any numbers on it, how do you make purchases online on sites that don’t directly accept Apple Pay? Does the Wallet app on your iPhone generate virtual card numbers on request that you can use online? Or are you only allowed to use it at websites that explicitly accept Apple Pay? I read through all the official Apple PR stuff and the fine print, don’t see any mention of this.

Another thing to note about having no numbers, I sometimes volunteer to run the box office at a local theater, and we have a little Square reader that only accepts magstrips. But often it doesn’t seem to work properly, so I end up typing the numbers in manually in the Square app. I know it’s not ideal, but when you’ve got 10 people in line you just need to get it moving somehow. How would a store employee deal with a card having no numbers in this situation?

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#389

Post by jldugger » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 7:37 PM UTC

Rebelgecko wrote: post #385

eridius wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple said they've engineered the service such that Apple does not know what you're purchasing or even what vendors you're shopping at. If Apple doesn't know this, they can't very well apply arbitrary rules to it.

I don't quite understand that, since the linked article says Apple will "use machine learning and Apple Maps to label stores that you use in the app, and use that data to track purchases across categories like “food and drink” or “shopping.”"

They said it that all happens on the device itself, and won't be transmitted back to their servers.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#390

Post by Redoubts » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 7:37 PM UTC

Rebelgecko wrote: post #385

eridius wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple said they've engineered the service such that Apple does not know what you're purchasing or even what vendors you're shopping at. If Apple doesn't know this, they can't very well apply arbitrary rules to it.

I don't quite understand that, since the linked article says Apple will "use machine learning and Apple Maps to label stores that you use in the app, and use that data to track purchases across categories like “food and drink” or “shopping.”"

The ML aspect happens "on device".