A new report in the Wall Street Journal states that Apple is teaming up with Goldman Sachs to offer an Apple Pay branded credit card for customers. The card is expected to launch as early as 2019 with customers being able to do in-store financing of new Apple gear.
The deal would end the current relationship Apple has with Barclaycard, which offers the Apple Rewards Visa today. The Goldman Sachs card would replace the relationship and cared from Barclaycard.
While details of what the new card will offer in the way of interest free payments and other perks remains unclear, the push of a new Apple Pay card by Apple fits well with the company’s focus on services with Pay being a key part of that service. Having a branded credit card will further solidify Apple in their customer’s wallet, physically and virtually through the Pay app on iPhones and iPads.
That said, adoption of Apple Pay has been slow to this point but Apple, like Google and even Samsung, are playing the long game when it comes to device payment services. Many retailers still do not have tap-to-pay terminals and there is any number of retailers who are aiming to fire up their own pay services. That said, it will likely boil down to Apple and Google at the end of the day but widespread adoption is expected to be another 3-5 years out.
