“Apple has introduced a new web portal for managing its Apple Card credit card (including paying bills, viewing the current balance, and seeing past bill statements), which makes the experience as a whole less reliant on an iPhone or iPad, via AppleInsider. Previously, the only way to manage an Apple Card required having a compatible iOS device with the Wallet app installed, which made it far less easy to access than a traditional credit card (nearly all of which offer web portals to pay bills and check balances).”

“About a year into a U.S. antitrust investigation of Apple Inc. , Justice Department lawyers are scrutinizing rules that require many app makers to use the company’s payment system, according to people familiar with the matter. Government lawyers have met with developers as recently as last week and are asking questions about Apple’s rules that require apps to use its App Store payment system for subscriptions, said the people, who declined to be identified discussing a confidential matter. Apple pockets up to a 30% cut when apps use the payment technology.”

“European Union antitrust authorities launched two formal probes into whether Apple Inc. violated competition laws through its Apple Pay service and App Store, escalating the bloc’s broader campaign to curb Silicon Valley giants’ alleged attempts to corner markets and squash rivals. The EU’s new investigations join other formal and informal probes into companies including Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., which is set to face EU antitrust charges in coming weeks.”

“Apple’s mobile wallet is gobbling up a growing chunk of card payments around the world. As the service grows, it’s becoming a greater challenge to rivals like PayPal and attracting the attention of competition watchdogs. Apple Pay accounts for about 5% of global card transactions and is on pace to handle 1-in-10 such payments by 2025, according to recent trend data compiled by Bernstein, a research firm.”

“As a measure of the excitement going into 2020, App Store customers spent a record $1.42 billion between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, a 16 percent increase over last year, and $386 million on New Year’s Day 2020 alone, a 20 percent increase over last year and a new single-day record.”

“One year after the launch of Apple Pay in Germany, 371 out of a total of 379 German savings banks have now introduced the digital payment service. Around 50 million customers can use the service with it. Commerzbank, Norisbank and LBBW were also added as further banks.”

“Apple is today launching a new feature for Apple Card which allows cardholders to purchase a new iPhone then pay it back over 24 months with no interest. The company announced its plans for the program during its October earnings call, but now the program is actually opening up to all Apple Card customers. In addition, Apple is sweetening the deal for purchases made in December. Instead of the usual 3% back on Apple purchases, the company is offering 6% back on all Apple purchases made from December 10 through December 31, 2019.”

“Apple Pay has been growing at a brisk pace recently, and Tim Cook is making a point to emphasize that fact. During Apple’s Q4 2019 earnings call today, Cook touted that revenue and transactions for Apple Pay doubled year-over-year as the service continues to outpace PayPal.”

“The Apple Card makes quite an impression. The white titanium slab contains no numbers or expiration date—only your name, an Apple logo and the chip. Whip it out of your wallet and it clatters onto a table with a delightful “tink” sound. James Bond might be a Black Card guy , but Q would definitely use an Apple Card.”

“52% of Apple Pay users say they are likely to apply for an Apple Card in the next 12 months, a JD Power survey of US consumers has found. To date, roughly 11% of adults report using Apple Pay for purchases in-store, and that number rises to 20% among people who use an iPhone, JD Power adds.”

“Apple Inc.’s new Apple Card is an unconventional animal with what some observers call ho-hum rewards, but separate studies released Wednesday show the card nonetheless could make a big splash. Research firm J.D. Power said its late June survey found “awareness is already remarkably high” for a product that offers “middle-of-the-road” rewards compared with other cards.”

“Apple says a random selection of people who signed up to be notified about the Apple Card will be invited to sign up today, although the company won’t disclose exactly how many people will be in the preview group. The signup process, which requires iOS 12.4, involves entering your address, birthday, income level, and last four digits of your Social Security number. That information is sent to Goldman Sachs, which will approve or decline your application in real time — Apple says it should take less than a minute. (There’s a TransUnion credit check involved, so if you’ve locked that info you’ll have to unlock it.)”

“Cryptocurrency fans who were hoping to use Apple’s forthcoming credit card to splash on coin are out of luck. You also won’t be able to use the Apple Card to buy lottery tickets, casino gambling chips in any form, physical or virtual, or foreign currency or travelers checks.”

“Technology giant Apple is set to launch its mobile payment platform Apple Pay for cardholders in 16 additional countries in Eastern Europe, MacRumors has reported. As per the plan, the mobile payments service will now be launched in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.”

“One of the most buzzy announcements on Apple’s stage this week was Apple Card, its in-house credit card powered by Goldman Sachs and Mastercard. Consumers, tech press, financial press and Wall Street were all intrigued for various reasons.”

“To unlock Apple Card, users will be asked to put it next to their iPhone, which will then display a user interface similar to the one used to pair AirPods, HomePod, and other devices. A simple button press will then do the process of activating the card with the user’s account. This activation process is clearly not finished quite yet, but that’s to be expected given this is the first beta version of it. Another fact we learned from this first beta is that the Apple Card, like many other products and projects inside Apple, has a code name. The Apple Card project is called “Broadway” internally.”

“The card’s most original feature is privacy. Apple says it won’t know where its customers have shopped, how much they paid, or what they bought. Apple says Goldman Sachs will use customers’ personal data to operate the card, but won’t share or sell it to third parties for marketing or advertising.”