Corporate and Individual Strategies to Respond to the Protectionism Worldwide
April 3, 2025
The Surging Protectionist Sentiment There is a surge of protectionism and populism worldwide. From President Trump’s Protectionist Rhetoric and his America First and Make America Great Again slogans to the rise of Anti Immigrant sentiment in Brexit Britain and the latent hyper nationalism in other countries around the world, there is a backlash against globalization.…
Tax Evasion vs. Tax Avoidance Tax evasion and tax avoidance are often used interchangeably. However, there is a huge difference between the two terms. Tax evasion is a criminal activity. In most countries, tax evasion would attract a jail term. Evasion is usually done by not reporting income or overstating expenses. However, tax avoidance is…
In the past few years, technology companies have been driving the boom in the financial markets. The FAANG companies (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google) have seen their valuations increase by leaps and bounds. However, COVID-19 is causing a worldwide stock market collapse. It would be fair to say that the pandemic is not affecting…
Apple Inc. which is the most valuable company in the world is known for selling high tech products. Over the years, Apple products have become a cult following, and many consumers blindly purchase whatever new products the company introduces.
This time Apple has surprised its investors and customers. All analysts were expecting the company to unveil some kind of shiny new gadget or mobile app.
However, Apple has decided to dilute its focus and diversify. Apple surprised the world by offering a financial services product, i.e. the ’credit card.“
The Apple credit card is no longer a figment of the imagination. Instead, it is something that consumers will be able to use very soon.
In this article, we will have a closer look at some of the features of Apple credit cards as well as the reason behind the company’s venture into this new service line.
Apple has made an attempt to redesign how credit cards work. It needs to be understood that Apple is the main brand that will power the sales and distribution of this credit card.
However, Apple is not launching this card alone. The company has partnered with other financial bigwigs such as Goldman Sachs and MasterCard. Goldman Sachs will provide the banking know-how to enable Apple to run a successful credit card business.
At the same time, the alliance with MasterCard will make the product more acceptable. Apple has announced that its credit card will work at all online as well as offline locations wherever MasterCard is accepted.
Some other salient features of the Apple credit card will be as follows:
Also, many credit card companies hike interest rates whenever customers miss payments. Apple will not be following that practice. Apple will continue to charge the 13% to 24% interest on the outstanding balance even in the case of a missed payment.
Hence, other details like the card number, expiration date, and the CVV code will not be printed on the card.
Some of the above features provided by Apple credit card and pretty exceptional whereas many others are simply run-of-the-mill. However, the more important question is that why is Apple venturing into the credit card domain.
Apple is confident that its stellar brand loyalty will help make its credit card an instant success.
This is the first time that Apple is using its brand to sell something which is not technical. Hence, it would be interesting to see whether this brand extension dilutes the brand equity of this humungous corporation.
Apple’s foray into the credit card business is an interesting turn of events. If the company succeeds with the credit card business, it may also foray into a lot of unrelated businesses and will ultimately morph into a conglomerate.
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