Apple announces Apple Card credit card • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#511

Post by chx » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:00 PM UTC

photonios wrote: post #449

I got all excited and then realized that almost none of the new services that were announced will offer me anything as a European. Apple Card most likely won't be coming to Europe any time soon. The streaming service is also not likely to come to Europe as it includes US-only services such as Hulu and Amazon Prime. I am aware that this is a bit of a 1st world problem, but all of these services being US-only can be re…

This entire field is completely messed up. One of my favorite movies this year is from India, I don't usually see Bollywood movies but Manikarnika rocked. It opened in January and now, it's been out on Amazon Prime since Saturday:

https://www.justwatch.com/ca/search?q=manikarnika

In Canada.

In the USA?

https://www.justwatch.com/us/search?q=manikarnika

Not so much.

This only drives piracy -- it obviously has been ripped and it is available on torrent.

Other side of the coin, I subscribed to Amazon Prime to watch American Gods and it takes more than 24 hours for the latest episode to get to Canada from the USA. It is literally faster to drive across the border, record it and drive back. That's insane. Oh and there's no indication of when it drops. People posted the question for UK and there's simply no answer.

I honestly can say, I tried to move away from piracy -- I have been pirating things since 1985 -- but when I look at https://twitter.com/awealthofcs/status/1110254374192889857 and the availability, I despair and just want to give up. I have the money but having all of these are just annoying. Every service has its own interface and problems. Like, you can't Chromecast Amazon Prime unless you cast the browser tab and that sucks quality wise. And yes, quality! Amazon Prime is not always 1080p but what I torrent is always 1080p and never degrades. Netflix is better quality wise for sure, it was the first I subscribed to watch their Marvel stuff... but I am really not keen on having eventually eight or a dozen different services to search when I just want to watch a movie and deal with the quirks of each.

Piracy is a service problem and these guys are making the service worse and worse every day.

Ps. try searching Roku stick on Amazon.ca , the first result is "Roku® Streaming Stick | Portable, power-packed player with voice remote with TV power and volume | US version – Not intended for use in Canada".

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#512

Post by samstave » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:00 PM UTC

msh wrote: post #503

dhruvrrp wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Variable APRs range from 13.24% to 24.24% based on creditworthiness. Rates as of March 2019. > Late or missed payments will result in additional interest accumulating toward your balance. From the footnotes in the apple card announcement page.

Is 13% really considered low rates in the US?

Only if you're poor.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#513

Post by disillusioned » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:02 PM UTC

ben_w wrote: post #246

ralusek wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look no further than the recent issue where Patreon competitor Subscribestar had payment processors Stripe and PayPal stop processing their payments for _political_ disagreements with the purported beneficiaries of the donations through the platform. PayPal said that it was actually one of the underlying payment processors, and it was suspected to be MasterCard. That incident was the first time I've ever taken the ne…

I’ve been told political campaigns focused on MC/Visa forced a policy change on Fetlife (specifically which kinks you’re allowed to admit to being into) a few years back. I’m not into the kink which caused it (and I won’t repeat it here) but that left a bad taste in my mouth. IMO, people should be free to discuss what they’re into, even when it’s something much more harmful than the kink involved.

Stripe de-platformed us because their payment processor (Wells fucking Fargo, paragons of virtue) didn't like what we were selling, which was fantasy adult toys. They tried micromanaging the complaint, asking if we could remove "flesh colored" options, but we weren't going to get dragged down into that. Ridickulous.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#514

Post by kevin_thibedeau » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:03 PM UTC

tfehring wrote: post #445

ceejayoz wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rewards may be real, but so are the cost increases the merchants gradually put in place to offset them.

For those of us who use credit cards with rewards, the rewards significantly exceed the price increases, because most of the price increases are paid by people using other payment methods.

They're mostly paid by people who carry a balance and incur interest payments. They fuel the rewards programs.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#515

Post by mason55 » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:03 PM UTC

AaronFriel wrote: post #492

tyre wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Goldman is a client of Apple's. It's possible that they do some shady shit, but it's also possible that they don't want to fuck up their relationship with the world's most valuable company or jeopardize their entry into the consumer space. Their profit motive might save them. Or it could be a disaster, who knows. My guess is that Goldman would trade on the aggregate data

Wasn't there a lawsuit that an investment bank (can't recall if it was Goldman Sachs or not) can deceive its clients and not disclose that it has a competing or directly contrary interest? And then there's this, and a dozen other stories about Goldman Sachs deceiving its clients in the past. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/goldman-sachss-long-...

FWIW, those rules are relatively nuanced. It's not like someone ruled that Goldman can deceive all clients at all times in all transactions.

Typically it comes up in places where there's a question of whether the bank is responsible getting their client the best possible price in a transaction or whether the bank is acting as an arms-length counterparty who happens to be taking the other side of the transaction. It also depends on the sophistication of the client and whether it's a transaction where the client should expect Goldman to be bullshitting them.

Goldman acting as a bank for the Apple credit card is completely different from Goldman acting as the counterparty in a large FX hedge or bond deal.

Not that I like defending GS

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#516

Post by rietta » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:04 PM UTC

pfranz wrote: post #362

xeromal wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used that feature so many times with Paypal and Final and both closed that product after a year or two. I'm not sure what kills it, but it's a difficult space I guess. Maybe too much fraud to handle?

I'm pretty sure Bank of America had it probably 5-8 years ago. But it was web-only (I think it required a Java applet?) and awkward to use.

Longer. I used it once around 2006 to pay for an academic conference that the university was reimbursing me for. Looking back, the university making me pay registration during one of the most cash strapped points in my life was crazy.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#517

Post by gsnedders » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:04 PM UTC

dogma1138 wrote: post #510

lol768 wrote: post #438

This is interesting to observe from the UK. - Cashback is generally lower here because interchange fees are regulated/capped to 0.3% for personal credit cards and 0.2% for personal debit cards. Offers of 2% cashback simply won't work outside the US so I'll be curious to see how (if?) they try and expand this globally. - "All of the spending tracking and other information is stored directly on the device, not Apple’s…

I get 2-5% cash back on my American Express Platinum card in the UK... There are higher cash back cards also the cash back is usually capped on a monthly basis rather than on a flat %. So far for this year I have £341.92 cash back on the card. Mind you that this isn’t a new card I had it for 5 years.

Amex's own-branded cards aren't subject to the interchange limits, because they're vertically integrated (and there's no interchange).

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#518

Post by endymi0n » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:05 PM UTC

photonios wrote: post #449

I got all excited and then realized that almost none of the new services that were announced will offer me anything as a European. Apple Card most likely won't be coming to Europe any time soon. The streaming service is also not likely to come to Europe as it includes US-only services such as Hulu and Amazon Prime. I am aware that this is a bit of a 1st world problem, but all of these services being US-only can be re…

Don't know where you are in Europe, but usually there are a few offers available from quite a lot of providers. Here are Ireland and Germany:

https://www.justwatch.com/ie/tv-series/battlestar-galactica https://www.justwatch.com/de/Serie/Battlestar-Galactica

Fully agree though on feeling like a second-class citizen regarding a number online services.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#519

Post by afturner » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:06 PM UTC

codazoda wrote: post #482

I wonder how this is reconciled. "Apple also says that it’ll 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.”" "Like many of Apple’s products, privacy is a big push here. “Apple doesn’t know what you bought, where you bought it, and how much you paid for it,” said Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay. A…

They were very careful to leave themselves and Mastercard out of that slide. This was not the case for the previous time they mentioned privacy, where they included themselves.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#520

Post by kevin_thibedeau » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:07 PM UTC

max76 wrote: post #430

microdrum wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Do you know a better card that always gives 2% cash back, no cap? It doesn't always give 2% cash back, it only gives 2% cash back for places that offer Apple Pay. A significant portion of my CC chargers are at places that don't offer Apple Pay.

Fidelity's card has 2% on everything. They put it into your retirement account but you can give yourself "cash back" with lower contribution depending on your spending.