Payment experts say Google and Samsung will not join Apple’s lead in offering a credit card to its U.S. customers.
For them, the Apple Card, a credit card that the tech giant has recently released, had been launched at a time when adoption of mobile payment services such as Apple Pay has become stagnant for years as most American consumers preferred using simpler cash or cards.
One of the significant barriers to the growth of mobile payments is their lack of ubiquity. Many consumers would instead make a purchase at checkout with payment methods and tools that they know will be accepted than ask again and again whether a mobile option is available.
Payments experts said Google and Samsung would think twice if they would follow Apple’s lead. The US credit card industry faces burdensome regulation and fierce competition, which prevent tech companies from joining. Moreover, neither company has the same brand power as Apple. They also don’t have their retail stores, making things even more difficult for them to gain customers of this product.
In the past, Google launched a physical debit card for its Google Wallet, which later renamed into Google Pay, but the company shut down that program in 2016. Likewise, Samsung is already operating a credit-card company called Samsung Card in South Korea.
Apple announced its entry in the credit card industry at its keynote event on March 25. The tech giant separately announced a Mastercard-powered credit card with a Daily Cash feature that adds a 2% rebate on purchases made using Apple Pay. Customers can get 3% rebate on purchases made directly through Apple, either on the Apple App Store, Apple Stores or for Apple services.
The tech giant will not charge annual fees, late fees or foreign currency exchange fees from Apple Card. It also claims the card has low interest and no late payment fees.
The card which will be available this summer also includes various built-in strict privacy and security features that bars Apple from knowing what customers bought, where they bought it or how much they paid. Apple also says it assures that Goldman Sachs, its partner for this card, will never share customer data with third parties.