Cupertino pitched Apple Card as the greatest credit card in history. Instead, the card generated negative PR based on accusations that the algorithm used to decide credit limits is discriminatory.
Even Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak complained about the supposedly sexist algorithm. Woz said he received 10 times more credit than his wife, despite sharing bank accounts and assets. Here’s how Apple became the latest tech giant to be accused of algorithmic bias — and what that means.
Apple’s co-founder Steve “Woz” Wozniak is one of a number of Apple Card owners concerned about a possible sexist algorithm used for determining credit limits.
On Twitter, Woz said that he received 10x more credit on the card than his wife. “We have no separate bank or credit card accounts or any separate assets,” Wozniak clarified. “Hard to get to a human for a correction though. It’s big tech in 2019.”
Apple Card users can soon use this credit card to buy an iPhone with payments stretching over two years, but without incurring any interest.
It’s already possible to buy an iOS handset through the iPhone Upgrade Program, but this requires a separate loan.
Apple is ready to unveil its last earnings report of 2019 this week, and investors are anxiously waiting to hear some good news on iPhone sales.
All early indications point to sales of the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro performing even better than expected. But because the new devices were only on sale for the very tail end of the quarter, they might not have given Apple the growth Wall Street is desperate to see.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri are set to divulge all the details for Apple’s fiscal Q4 2019 earnings on Wednesday, October 30, at 2 p.m. PDT. Per usual, Cult of Mac will be analyzing all the data right when it drops and there are a couple of areas and metrics that are key to keeping Apple’s stock price soaring.
Any late payments made so far to an Apple Card account haven’t hurt your credit rating. Not yet, anyway.
That’s because the bank that’s backing the card, Goldman Sachs, reportedly isn’t giving anyone’s payment history to the three major credit bureaus.
Apple Card is off to smashing start, according to Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon.
During an earnings call this morning, Solomon updated investors on the status of Apple Card which launched in the US in August. Despite some skeptics worrying about Apple Card’s profitability, Solomon claims Apple Card is “the most successful credit-card launch ever.”
Apple Pay is now supported by a number of new banks across Europe.
Bunq in Austria, ING in Germany, and ABN AMRO in the Netherlands have all adopted Apple’s mobile payments service. Phyre in Bulgaria and two banks in the Czech Republic are also in on the action.
Apple is now offering financial relief to Apple Card users in areas that have been hit by flooding and other natural disasters.
Multiple Apple Card holders have shared an email sent by Apple with an offer to apply for the company’s new disaster relief program after detecting that they may have been affected by a natural disaster.
Apple Card’s reward program, called Daily Cash, has added T-Mobile to its growing list of partners. Starting September 20, all customers will receive 3% Daily Cash when they use Apple Card with Apple Pay at any T-Mobile store.
“We’re all about giving customers the best value in wireless, and we’re doing it again by offering 3% Daily Cash on Apple Card,” said T-Mobile CEO John Legere“More options. More value. And cash back, including on Apple’s newest products. It’s just the Un-carrier way.”
Apple partnered with Goldman Sachs to launch Apple Card. But that doesn’t guarantee that the two entities will always see eye-to-eye.
Late last week, Goldman Sachs cut its price target on Apple shares to $165. That gives it the lowest expectations for Apple of all major Wall Street banks. Following the news, Apple hit back at its partner, arguing that its claims were ill-founded.
