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by vineyardmike 1933 days ago
Not in a legal sense... but the apple credit card through a first party apple app only available on an apple phone that apple manages the UI and controls the marketing and perception is pretty close to an apple bank even if some other legal entity has the excel spreadsheet with account balances (...obvi not how that really works)
1 comments
lotsofpulp 1933 days ago
Apple doesn’t lend any money, is not owed any money, and takes no part in the financing aspect.

If anything, Goldman Sachs is the one that continues to be a bank, and Apple is providing the technical front end for it. It’s the opposite of vertical integration. A tech company is doing the tech part, a finance company is doing the finance part.

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vineyardmike 1933 days ago
> Goldman Sachs is the one that continues to be a bank, and Apple is providing the technical front end for it.

Yeah, not disagreeing at all. This is the exact correct reality of this business arrangement...

But its meant to feel like apple is the bank. The only time you see GS is in the fine print. Its clearly meant to be an "apple experience", and you'd be forgiven for not remembering GS was involved at all.

I have an apple card and a amazon visa card. This is completely an apple experience, and not a store card like the amazon one. Regardless of who is issuing bank, the lived experience of using it is that it feels like apple is managing my money. Esp. with apple pay and apple cash (which also all technically use existing financial infra including other banks), you would have no idea.

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