Goldman Sachs CEO testing Apple Card, foresees great interest in product at launch

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Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, who has been testing a beta version of Apple Card alongside employees at Goldman and Apple, is expecting high levels of consumer interest in the card based on early feedback.

Apple Card


Speaking with CNBC anchor Carl Quintanilla at Recode's Code Conference on Tuesday, Solomon said he is personally test driving the banking giant's first credit card prior to launch this summer.

As can be expected, the executive touted Apple Card's unique feature set, which includes at-a-glance app-based tools to help track and manage expenditures, make payments without incurring debt and more.

"It's in beta right now; there are some employees at Goldman Sachs and some employees of Apple that are using the card," Solomon said. "I'm using the card, I like the way it works. I like the simplicity, the lack of friction when it comes to paying bills, looking at what you've spent, ease of use."

Apple Card is advertised as Apple's vision of what a consumer credit product should be -- easy to use, packed with technology and highly secure.

Solomon believes the product will be a hit at launch.

"The early feedback indicated that there will be a lot of interest in it when we finally do launch it later this summer," Solomon said.

The executive did not clarify whether the "early feedback" he referenced is derived from beta testers or consumer research.

Apple Card was unveiled at a special Apple event in March. The product, backed by Goldman's Marcus arm, features NFC capabilities, no fees, cash back rewards and unique account management tools.

The card is slated to arrive sometime this summer.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    You don't need a crystal ball to know that more people are interested in this card over the launch of any other CC in history.
    applesnorangeslolliverlostkiwiflyingdpdedgeckomacguichaickaStrangeDaysanantksundaramrwx9901
  • Reply 2 of 23
    I, for one, will be an early adopter
    lolliverlostkiwidedgeckowatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 23
    normangnormang Posts: 118member
    You do wonder why it takes so long to get this card launched? Technically Summer begins in about two weeks... Oh well, if its as popular as it seems, you'll get the email to sign up, and then get one that says your new card will arrive in 4 to 6 weeks..
    rollerskatermaclin3
  • Reply 4 of 23
    mobirdmobird Posts: 752member
    normang said:
    You do wonder why it takes so long to get this card launched? Technically Summer begins in about two weeks... Oh well, if its as popular as it seems, you'll get the email to sign up, and then get one that says your new card will arrive in 4 to 6 weeks..
    Look how long it took to get the new Mac Pro...
  • Reply 5 of 23
    22july201322july2013 Posts: 3,564member
    Not only will millions of people acquire this card, but it will be the card that they actually use. This is not a secondary card; it's a primary. I don't know if the other card companies are publicly traded, but it might be a good time to sell their stock short.

    The main problem Apple will face (only in the USA) is that in the USA the use of EMV (which stands for "Europay, Mastercard, Visa") for contactless payments isn't widespread. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMV For some reason the US is slow to deploy contactless payment systems. I travelled through the US recently and the restaurants actually took my credit card and pumped it through a carbon paper receipt mechanism. That's how I used to pay for things 40 years ago in Canada. Why is America so technologically backwards? There are about 100 nations further ahead, such as Russia and Bangladesh. (I'm probably going to get in trouble for saying that.)

    So if it works in the USA, despite these technology challenges, it will work much better in the "technologically developed world."

    I will admit one deficiency in EMV. There's a limit on how much you can purchase without a PIN or signature. That limit varies from country to country but averages about $50 (although it's $100 here in Canada.) Sometimes when I'm paying for a family dinner that goes "over the limit" and my transaction gets rejected and I have to redo it with an insecure PIN instead of my secure fingerprint. I sure hope Apple finds a way to increase the limit to a value higher than "dinner for two". I can't even fill my gas tank contactlessly because of the limit.
    mwhiteflyingdplolliverTomPMRIneilmtipoomaclin3watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 23
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,056member
    I'll be applying. It will be my go-to Apple Pay card. "do you take Apple Pay?" If yes, then it goes on this card. If no, it will go on another card. Capital One gives me 1.5% on everything. Of course, other cards pay more, and when they do for that transaction, I'll use that. 

    Looking forward to trying it out.
    lolliverwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 23
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    I sure hope Apple finds a way to increase the limit to a value higher than "dinner for two".
    Blame your own country and their backwards institutions.

    That has nothing to do with Apple.
    caladanianwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 8 of 23
    Andro010101Andro010101 Posts: 1unconfirmed, member
    The EMV  limit for fingerprinted transactions is determined by the shop/restaurant, although they'll have been given advice by the Card accepting company. I'm not aware of any particular Canadian limitations but here in the UK the fingerprint counts the same as a signature. My local supermarket has a £10,000 limit for fingerprint contactless payment and I used it for a couple of thousand pounds of building work recently. Non-fingerprint contactless has much lower limits (around £30).
    neilm
  • Reply 9 of 23
    22july201322july2013 Posts: 3,564member
    apple ][ said:
    I sure hope Apple finds a way to increase the limit to a value higher than "dinner for two".
    Blame your own country and their backwards institutions.

    That has nothing to do with Apple.
    Yes. I should have been more clear about that. But Apple has lots of influence. For example, Apple persuaded the telcos to implement visual voice mail. 
  • Reply 10 of 23
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,350member
    Normang said:
    You do wonder why it takes so long to get this card launched? Technically Summer begins in about two weeks... 

    I don't. But look now long it took anybody to come up with a card anything like the Apple Card, with a fraction of the consumer friendly emphasis. I can wait until the last day of summer, if need be.

    Other than NFC convenience, had any card offered anything for the user other than incentives to spend? I use a debit card as my daily driver and keep my credit cards at home. The Apple Card will be my daily card for purchases great and small.

    watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 23
    darkpawdarkpaw Posts: 212member
    Will they be bringing this to the UK? We haven't even got Apple Pay Cash yet, so I guess we need that first (or does your daily cashback go onto the Apple Card as a kind of payment?).

    Goldman Sachs now has their Marcus bank over here in the UK, so they do have a necessary presence.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 23
    sandorsandor Posts: 655member
    Not only will millions of people acquire this card, but it will be the card that they actually use. This is not a secondary card; it's a primary. I don't know if the other card companies are publicly traded, but it might be a good time to sell their stock short.

    Citigroup
    JPMorganChase
    American Express
    Capital One

    (thats in order of card holder numbers)


    Truthfully, Goldman is waaaaay late to the game & had to team with someone like Apple in order to gain any amount of traction in the market.

    My Chase card has been EMV chip for almost a 8 years, NFC for 2 years. 
    My Citi card has been chip for a decade.

    The US is just incredibly slow to adoption - Visa & Mastercard have been rolling out biometric cards for 1-2 years in the rest of the world. Just like EMV chip having a decade head start in Europe over the US. 
    neilmLatkoSoundJudgment
  • Reply 13 of 23
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    sandor said:
    Not only will millions of people acquire this card, but it will be the card that they actually use. This is not a secondary card; it's a primary. I don't know if the other card companies are publicly traded, but it might be a good time to sell their stock short.

    Citigroup
    JPMorganChase
    American Express
    Capital One

    (thats in order of card holder numbers)


    Truthfully, Goldman is waaaaay late to the game & had to team with someone like Apple in order to gain any amount of traction in the market.

    My Chase card has been EMV chip for almost a 8 years, NFC for 2 years. 
    My Citi card has been chip for a decade.

    The US is just incredibly slow to adoption - Visa & Mastercard have been rolling out biometric cards for 1-2 years in the rest of the world. Just like EMV chip having a decade head start in Europe over the US. 
    Goldman was never a bank -- it was an investment house until the 2008 crash when many were forced to become banks.  Consumer banking is an entirely new area for them.
  • Reply 14 of 23
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    Soli said:
    You don't need a crystal ball to know that more people are interested in this card over the launch of any other CC in history.
    I think mostly it shows the power of Apple's influence.
    The card itself isn't that much different from any other card -- the differences are mostly superficial stuff. 

    But I think you are correct that this will generate a LOT of interest.

    For myself, I'll probably get one.  But I won't see it as any big deal.
    But I am looking at this as Apple's way to get their foot into the door of modern FinTech which can revolutionize banking and money handling around the world.   I am thinking & hoping that, for Apple, this is just the first step of a long journey.
  • Reply 15 of 23
    sandor said:

    The US is just incredibly slow to adoption - Visa & Mastercard have been rolling out biometric cards for 1-2 years in the rest of the world. Just like EMV chip having a decade head start in Europe over the US. 
    What's even worse is that those who still defend the dinosaur Magnetic stripe used by older, outdated card-readers... want groups to continue supporting the Magnetic stripe in all currently sold POS units... even in newer products which have done away with them for better user/transaction security.
    edited June 2019 watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 23
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,350member
    Those superficial differences make the Apple Card a sum greater than it's parts. That these seemingly superficial differences are designed to help the user use credit responsibly and not encourage them to accumulate debt make it much more different than other cards.

    Like the iPhone and iTunes music sales, one day there won't be that much difference between the Apple Card and other credit cards. That day ain't today.
    JWSCwatto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 23
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,350member
    sandor said:
    The US is just incredibly slow to adoption - Visa & Mastercard have been rolling out biometric cards for 1-2 years in the rest of the world. Just like EMV chip having a decade head start in Europe over the US. 
    You are preaching to the choir. I only got my chipped Debit card a maybe a year ago and it doesn't do NFC. My credit cards were recently 'renewed' but neither are chipped or NFC ready.

    Most of the POS readers were ridiculously slow for chipped cards and only in the last six months or so have those I use regularly been sped up. I don't know if it was a firmware or infrastructure problem, but it took awhile to be fixed. 

    Just as there may still be slow chip readers around, I'm sure it will take still more time before the they become the norm and strip readers are rare. When that time seems to have arrived, I'll take a magnet and swipe the stripe.
    edited June 2019 sandorwatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 23
    chaickachaicka Posts: 257member
    Goldman Sachs...When will Apple Card comes to International markets?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 23
    NotsofastNotsofast Posts: 450member
    Not only will millions of people acquire this card, but it will be the card that they actually use. This is not a secondary card; it's a primary. I don't know if the other card companies are publicly traded, but it might be a good time to sell their stock short.

    The main problem Apple will face (only in the USA) is that in the USA the use of EMV (which stands for "Europay, Mastercard, Visa") for contactless payments isn't widespread. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMV For some reason the US is slow to deploy contactless payment systems. I travelled through the US recently and the restaurants actually took my credit card and pumped it through a carbon paper receipt mechanism. That's how I used to pay for things 40 years ago in Canada. Why is America so technologically backwards? There are about 100 nations further ahead, such as Russia and Bangladesh. (I'm probably going to get in trouble for saying that.)

    So if it works in the USA, despite these technology challenges, it will work much better in the "technologically developed world."

    You're comment about "carbon paper" mechanisms used at restaurants in America is terribly misleading and actually suspect, unless there were a series of power outages as you traveled the country, as manual imprint machines would be used almost nowhere, especially restaurants, as the practice of manually printing carbon receipts and then mailing them in to the bank largely ended decades ago, as nearly every business is connected to the Internet and running running your card through for validation is the only way for a business to have a "guaranteed" transaction and, no business would foolishly absorb the time and costs/fraud of using a manual system, that would also require massive time and processing costs, delay in payments from card issuers, etc.  In sum, the only merchants who would be using a manual imprint system is where there is no Internet/phone service to connect one to the card issuer, long relegated to backups in the event of a power outage, the county fairs, etc., and now even rare there with the ubiquity of cell service, etc.

    It is accurate to say that the US has lagged in adoption of credit card technologies to defeat fraud, e.g., chips were only added a few years ago, but are now nearly ubiquitous. The reason for this lag is that in the US the merchant absorbed none of the fraud (see above) since once the card was approved by running it through a machine, the merchant was guaranteed to be be paid, so there was no incentive/reason for merchants to purchase new machines with chip readers.  The card issuers were reluctant to put chips on the cards without a system of readers, so you had a "chicken or egg" controversy.  Once the law was changed to put a burden on the merchant to absorb fraud that if they didn't use the most secure system, the dam broke and now most merchants have machines that can read chips.  







  • Reply 20 of 23
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    For some reason the US is slow to deploy contactless payment systems. I travelled through the US recently and the restaurants actually took my credit card and pumped it through a carbon paper receipt mechanism. That's how I used to pay for things 40 years ago in Canada. Why is America so technologically backwards? 
    I haven't seen carbon paper cc imprinting in a restaurant in over a quarter century. Where were you?
    PickUrPoisonmaclin3watto_cobra
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