Apple announces Apple Card credit card • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#551

Post by mstade » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:36 PM UTC

chx wrote: post #511

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 ripp…

Sports is even worse, wanna watch the game for your favorite sport? Gotta have that one special subscription! That shit thrives on exclusivity deals. (Super Bowl ads, anyone?)

When I lived in the UK I signed up for an out-of-market subscription for NHL, it was something like $50 and I could watch any game from any broadcast (they always do a home and away broadcast) and they’d block out most of the ads because it was out of market and they hadn’t sold the ads there. Now the UK does air some nhl games, particularly during the playoffs, so how’d I do it? Used a vpn in like Peru or somewhere that wouldn’t give two craps about hockey. I paid for it, but still had to jump through hoops to watch it. What I time to be alive.

Whoever figures out the Netflix of sports, wins. I’m calling it.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#552

Post by ReGenGen » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:36 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…

I see the primary benefits of the Apple Card being Security & Privacy. Doesn't the EU already have more secure CCs with better privacy?

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#553

Post by waynecochran » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:37 PM UTC

dhruvrrp wrote: post #454

chrisbolt wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Their CC will hold an egregious APR % and draconian penalties for people who fail... "Lower interest rates" "No penalty interest rates" https://photos.reportinglive.com/p/2019-03-25/f1553535277.jp...

> 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.

24.24% is complete usury!

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#554

Post by nicky0 » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:40 PM UTC

kyrra wrote: post #228

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…

The CC networks are known cave to political pressure to shut down certain merchants. Apple is likely no better or worse here. example: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/07/caving-government-pres...

I can definitely see Apple caving in to activists trying to deplatform transgressors against the "progressive" orthodoxy.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#555

Post by 013a » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:41 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…

Apple TV+ was announced for "100+ Countries at Launch".

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#556

Post by chillacy » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:43 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…

Some people are mentioning regulation but for streaming a lot of it comes down to market size. The US is a huge singular market which all speaks one language. In europe there are many smaller markets each with its own language and set of countries and regulations. Even at big-ish US companies that serve europe, there might only be a small team that services just FR or just GB, and almost never any smaller countries.

On the plus side, that gap presents sort of a business opportunity but the downside is, it's not a particularly big one.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#557

Post by Gibbon1 » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:45 PM UTC

arcticbull wrote: post #478

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need a post-office bank and payment processor, which will then be legally subject to the First Amendment.

Postal banking is awesome for a lot of reasons. For one, post offices are pretty evenly distributed throughout cities including in low-income neighborhoods where banks tend not to be. There's a lot of precedent including the UK ( https://www.postoffice.co.uk/everydaybanking ). I hadn't considered first-amendment though, very interesting.

If you mention postal banking to people from the US they utterly lose their shit on you tho.

Imagine if the post office was getting transaction fees instead of banks.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#558

Post by sambeau » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:46 PM UTC

ReGenGen wrote: post #552

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…

I see the primary benefits of the Apple Card being Security & Privacy. Doesn't the EU already have more secure CCs with better privacy?

Security, yes. Privacy—I don't believe so*

*—though it depends what you mean by 'better'. I don't think anything existing int the EU is as secure and as private as what Apple just announced. For sure the average EU CC is more secure than an average US one and our data protection laws are better. However our credit cards are still allowed to track us and our purchases. Credit agencies still follow us around and rate us. Getting hold of our histories is relatively simple but removing ourselves from those histories is less so.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#559

Post by rickycook » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:46 PM UTC

VectorLock wrote: post #437

aphextron wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should stop getting your news from Hollywood movies. Goldman Sachs is the very face of American capitalism. They are no more guilty than any other large financial institution of their age in shady practices. The problem you have is with the exploitative nature of the global capitalist system itself, not the specific actor. Just take a look at the history of Deutsche Bank, HSBC, or Credit Suisse if you think Goldm…

That other people also do bad things does not at all excuse the bad things Goldman Sachs has done.

of course, but what other options are there? i think the point being made is that all banks large enough to provide an “apple-scale” service are pretty damn awful.

who knows? this could be an apple “toe in the water” play to see if it works, and they eventually replace GS/mastercard. you’d have trouble doing an MVP credit card without these big players to start with.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#560

Post by Larrikin » Mon, Mar 25, 2019, 9:46 PM UTC

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #477

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need a post-office bank and payment processor, which will then be legally subject to the First Amendment.

> We need a post-office bank and payment processor, which will then be legally subject to the First Amendment. Postal money orders already exists, and are exactly as expensive and inconvenient as you would expect. The actual problem is KYC laws that require payment processors to do the job of the police and refuse service to customers under purposely vague corporate policies without due process, instead of having the…

The thing is I don't expect the post office to be expensive and inconvenient. They work wonderfully in many countries for basic banking services to all residents.

What is awful is that I expect it to be inconvenient and awful in the US because there is this idea that anything the government does will inevitably be bad and then there are multiple political parties that try their hardest to make that idea come true when they get elected.

There's no reason for the system to not work in the US other than people trying to sabotage it to the detriment of large parts of the population so their personal tax burden is lower since they don't believe they ever will need the service.