Apple is stepping up its game in the money transfer sector. Come this fall Apple's iPhone and iPad users will be able to send money digitally to one another. This launch, a money transfer service that will take on PayPal's Nenmo and others, will include a digital debit card (ApplePay Cash) that will lets users buy things online or in stores. Sorry, only available to iPhone, iPad and Apple watches. Will this lead to Apple becoming a bank? Just saying.
(Bill Taylor/CEO) "Apple announced on Monday that it is launching a money-transfer service that could challenge Venmo and other competitors, letting iPhone and iPad users send money digitally to each other via a text.
The new feature will appear automatically inside Apple Messages, the company’s messaging product, when Apple launches the new version of its mobile operating system, iOS 11, this fall, a spokesperson said.
Apple also announced its own digital debit card — called Apple Pay Cash — that lets people take the money they receive via the new money-transfer service and use it to make Apple Pay purchases online or in physical stores that accept tap-and-pay transactions.
Recode first reported in April that Apple was working on both products. They will only be available in the U.S. — at least for now.
The new Apple money-transfer service will go up against competing offerings from PayPal, PayPal-owned Venmo, Square Cash and popular bank services like Chase QuickPay. But unlike many competitors, Apple’s cash-sending feature is limited to users of iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches.
As I previously wrote, “These services have typically been money losers for the new entrants in the space, but are seen as the gateway to the next generation of payment and personal finance services that could upend traditional consumer banking relationships. They are used for everything from splitting dinner bills to paying rent.”
So does Apple want to be a bank? Not now, but maybe someday.
For now, the new Apple Pay Cash card could have a more direct impact on a current Apple business: Apple Pay. Industry insiders believe the virtual debit card will be a way to introduce Apple Pay to new users, perhaps to younger consumers who don’t already have their own traditional credit or debit cards..."
Source: Recode