The Apple Card: What Small Businesses Need to Know
Apple has announced that it will release its first digital credit card, Apple Card, targeting consumers, in collaboration with Goldman Sachs. As with its popular Apple Pay program, this payment solution is expected to convert a large number of its nearly 100 million iPhone users in the United States into the digital credit card landscape.
Digital credit cards give consumers the ability to enter their credit card information in their ‘Digital Wallet’ and use their devices to make purchases at the register. More and more iPhone users are starting to take advantage of this technology as it provides a convenient place to store your credit and debit cards, boarding passes, movie tickets, rewards cards and more, all in one place. Not only is this convenient, but it’s also more secure. The Apple Card will store all of the patient or client’s information in the cloud, reducing the risk of fraud for your business.
Apple will launch a physical card as well, which will be available on demand. However, this card will not come with a card number or CVC, which makes it completely secure. The card will rely on revolutionary security features such as FaceID and TouchID to authenticate the user instead. Other technologies included with the new Apple Card are the M Chip and token services, which will help store the card’s information on a smart device without exposing it during contactless payments.
This digital credit card payment solution is expected to be launched in the summer of 2019, initially as a pilot program, and customers will be able to apply online, and have the card issued directly on their phone. The Apple Card operates just like Apple Pay, allowing users to make digital and online purchases directly from their mobile device, whether it be their iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch.
Once the Apple Card application is approved, the Apple Card will appear in the Apple Wallet and become usable right away. In terms of coverage, clients will be able to use it wherever Apple Pay is accepted. Statistics show that 383 million iOS users completed payment transactions through Apple Pay in 2018, up from 127 million users in 2017.
What does this mean for your medical or small businesses credit card processing? The introduction of this card will make it imperative that your merchant/POS terminal is compatible with Apple Pay in order to take full advantage of the influx of new Apple Card users.
Contact Beacon to Learn More
Beacon is here to help. We work closely with doctors and healthcare professionals to help implement new payment solutions. If you would like to learn more about how Apple Pay and the new Apple Card could impact your payment processing capabilities as a medical practice, please Contact Beacon today to learn more!
