Page 18 - GS190802

Views

nected merchants and consumers. To be relevant, payment
The very point of sale cards and service offerings must reflect the personality,
requirements and aspirations of each unique prospective
customer.

Shake the Apple tree
Throughout its history, Apple has challenged incumbent
models of computing, graphic design and entertainment.
The company's game-changing products have transformed
Apple Card falls the ways in which people consume music, movies and tele-
vision. Its interactive platforms have encouraged graphic
far from the T&E designers and app developers to "Think Different" and cre-
ate new forms of gaming, virtual reality and experiential
retail. When Apple trained its sites on the traditional credit
By Dale S. Laszig card, the payments industry held its collective breath, wait-
ing for the inevitable shakedown to begin.
DSL Direct LLC
Richard Crone, CEO at Crone Consulting LLC, observed
hat do you see when you look at a credit that Apple products are successful because the company
card? If you're a merchant level salesperson designs all products with consumers in mind. "What the
(MLS), you may see a symbol of your liveli- iPod was to the music industry, and what the iPhone was
W hood. If you're a journalist, you may see a for cell phones and mobile carriers, so is the Apple Card to
story that began in 1950, when Diner's Club International financial services," he stated.
introduced travel and entertainment (T&E) cards. If you're
Apple Inc., you may see a platform ripe for disruption. In a March 2019 interview with The Green Sheet following
the Apple Card unveiling, Crone summarized Apple's val-
Payments industry veteran Marc Beauchamp, author of ue proposition as helping consumers lead healthier finan-
How to Survive and Thrive in the Merchant Services Industry, cial lives while honoring its core values of privacy, secu-
pointed out that T&E cards were introduced to help trav- rity and transparency. "As with other industries Apple has
eling salespeople manage expenses. In a chapter titled disrupted, they are using their 'edge' to enroll customers
"Industry History" in the book's first edition, Beauchamp directly into their own curated bundles and original con-
wrote, "Diner's Club is also considered the first acquirer tent," he said.
because they were the first to charge merchants a discount
rate." Change the game

As charge cards and then credit cards proliferated, finan- Noting that Apple Card bundles credit, prepaid, debit,
cial institutions introduced credit programs and revolving person-to-person (P2P) and cash access functionality into
credit, enabling cardholders to pay balances in full or over one platform, Crone suggested the stage is set for Apple "to
time with financing plans. These models remained unchal- do the same for other credit lines, especially automobile,
lenged for 40 years. mortgage and other consumer lending products." He cited
the following Apple Card features and benefits:
Far from plain vanilla
1. Instant issuance: With its single sign-on process,
Like the three basic ice cream flavors or yore, a few ter- Apple authenticates Apple Pay user credentials to pre-
minal manufacturers and payment card brands dominated populate online applications. In addition to providing
merchant services in the late eighties and nineties. Today's frictionless account openings, it enhances security by
merchants and consumers can choose from an almost infi- leveraging Apple Pay's multifactor authentication tools
nite array of commerce solutions. such as Face ID and Touch ID. "This makes the Apple
Wallet the Amazon of instant issuance and account
In this age of personalization, consumers enjoy customized opening, including initiating the online application
shopping journeys curated by artificial intelligence. Last- through augmented voice," Crone said. "Consumers
minute offers and recommendations populate news feeds, can say, 'Hey Siri, or Hey Google, please apply for an
inboxes and messaging apps designed to encourage sin- Apple Card.'"
gle-click ordering: Do you like what you see? Hurry! Last
chance! With every click, machine learning engines gain 2. Customized credit and repayment: Designed to en-
customer insights and intelligence. courage healthy financial choices, Apple Card enables
a personalized payment schedule that can benefit all
Plain vanilla value propositions, such as reduced fees or types of consumers. This provides educational guid-
gift-with-purchase offers for credit card products and pro- ance for young and financially inexperienced consum-
cessing services, are no longer meaningful to hyper-con-
18