Bloomberg: Apple developing a new Apple Pay 'buy now, pay later' program
Apple is becoming as much a financial services company as it is a consumer technology company these days it seems. It has already launched its Apple Card backed by Goldman Sachs which offers Apple customers rewards for purchasing its products. Now it is set to enter the ‘buy now, pay later’ segment with the launch of a product Bloomberg reports is known internally as ‘Apple Pay Later’.
Rather than being integrated directly into Apple’s current Apple Card credit card offering, the new Apple Pay Later scheme would be integrated into its Apple Pay product. According to insiders, the aim is to help drive the adoption of Apple Pay. It would encourage users to pay for Apple products with Apple Pay using either their Apple Card or a credit card of their choosing. Naturally, one might expect it would help drive sales growth too.
Users of Apple Pay Later would get a couple of options to spread their payments out for Apple products. When making a purchase, users will be able to choose between an interest free option that would be over a shorter period and one with interest, but repayments made over a number of months. The interest free option will be called ‘Apple Pay in 4’, consisting of four interest-free payments made every two weeks. The long-term repayment option is said to be called ‘Apple Pay Monthly Installments’.
There is no time frame for the launch of the Apple Pay Later product, with the possibility that it might yet get scrapped. Affirm shares, however, fell 10 percent on news of the Bloomberg report.
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