From AppleWorld Today:
J.D. Power found that awareness is already remarkably high for the Apple Card and many credit card customers are likely to apply when it becomes available – despite the fact that it offers a relatively middle-of-the-road rewards package when compared with other cards.
The Apple Card has not even launched yet, and 38% of U.S. adults are already aware of it. Among those who are aware of the card, 35% say that they are somewhat or very likely to apply for the card. Those numbers are even higher among younger credit card customers. Among 18-29 year-olds, over half (52%) are aware of the Apple Card.
“This is a strong level of awareness, especially for a product that is not yet available to the public and has not been heavily marketed,” says J.D. Power…
J.D. Power says that, despite an incredibly tight credit card marketplace, it looks like the Apple Card will be a hit because of the power of the Apple brand and a history of delivering on a superior user experience.
Thanks for the heads-up to friend-of-the-blog Dave Emery, who writes “that last sentence is significant.”
Awareness among youth counts for a lot, as in many decades of revenue growth. That same demographic now defaults to Venmo. Once they get Apple Cards, they’ll use Apple Cash more often too.
While all this is too small for the stock analysts to see now, it has tremendous growth.
Name the last time there was ANY buzz about the debut of a new credit card.
Hint: There hasn’t been in my long memory.
Yesterday, MasterCard may have leaked inadvertently little-known benefits available to Apple Card users through MC’s website. Those benefits were shown earlier in the morning on MC’s webpage under “MasterCard Benefits for Apple Card Customers.” Those benefits could include fraud and identity theft protection, travel discounts and upgrades, some golf offerings, home rental discounts and exclusive cardholder “special events.” It also may include membership to ShopRunner, which lets users get free two-day shipping on some websites. These benefits are rather modicum, but may be appealing to some folk in addition to Apple’s stated benefits. The webpage since has been taken down. Also, the Verge’s Nilay Patel reported that the lower APR for the card is now 12.99 percent after the Fed’s rate cut.
Lastly, while I am a huge Apple fan and an Apple aficionado, it will be extremely difficult for Apple to entice me into using the Apple card for more than purchasing Apple products, which run into the low thousands annually for me. I always used Barclay’s Visa for making Apple purchases so that I could get Apple gift cards.
I have been with AMEX for almost forty years. American Express has a very good benefit package. Additionally, AMEX concierge service has been there for me during periods of “trials & tribulations” when I was robbed in Egypt, lost my money (or pickpocketed) in Ecuador, when no one would take my AMEX travel checks in Viet Nam and when I needed an interpreter to transact business with a bank officer in Yalta. I can’t express how AMEX concierge ladies and men gave me comfort during those stressed periods of ensuring me “… they had my back.”
At this juncture, I do not see Apple operating at AMEX’s concierge level of service and besides, it would be hard for me to preemptively end my AMEX relationship because of the new Apple card.
Do you need a man servant to carry your bags?
@Gregg Thurman: Love to have you Gregg, but I still carry my own bags at age 72. Work-out four hours daily (six days a week) in gym with alternate days of aerobics and weight resistance training. Am leaving for Fairbanks where I have a chartered Bush pilot flying me to Bettles in his de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver float plane to get my last assortment of gear & supplies before flying onward to “Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserves,” dropping me on Circle Lake. With a backpack of 75-85 lbs. and climbing elevations upwards of 1,000 feet daily, I plan to cross through the Arrigetch Mountains to a lake on the other side at which time I will use my SAT phone to call-in the Bush pilot to retrieve me. You certainly are welcome my good man (at this late date) to join me as we have an open seat on the plane. -:)
This just reinforces that the nabobs of negativity haven’t a clue on what’s happening in the world. I’ll be waiting for the debit card cousin (next year?)
Far more transactions occur on debit cards than do credit cards. And in Europe (if I understand correctly) users pay a monthly/annual fee to use them.
What happens, with regard to debit cards, if Apple issues one, and it doesn’t have a monthly/annual fee?
I just joined, so am a bit of a newbie, but I agree with 87.97% of the comments here, and 95.76% of Phillip’s “My Take”
I only joined to offset the $$$ that new seat PED had put on his bike…
Jimmy, who will soon have his Apple Card, and yes, nothing beats AMEX concierge service, not even close.
What’s not clear to me (not a problem with the article, but with the underlying perceptions) is how much ‘privacy’ is part of the ‘superior user experience.’ Does the collective user base (both for Apple products in general and for the Apple Card in particular) consider privacy to be ‘part of the user experience’, or is privacy a separate benefit of the Apple brand?
Success in some countries may be dependent on vendor acceptance. E.g. AMEX is rarely accepted in NZ due to bank fees on vendors.
Noteworthy: Amazon won’t accept Apple Pay but Target does. I, like many Americans, am a Prime
Member, but if Target accepts Apple Pay for online purchases and can come up with free 1-2 day delivery, I’ll be switching my purchases over. And if Shoprunner is in the mix, it ought to help with other online purchases that Target can’t supply.
Another draw for me is the analytics. Users are kept advised of the date by which they need to pay to avoid paying interest. The card tracks spending in a transparent easy to understand way. And the idea of getting a present from Apple at the end of every day in the form of Apple cash tickles me pink. I’m in.