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Apple is the new Microsoft in many ways: when Windows has informed all decisions made by Microsoft, Apple has made the protection of its iPhone appliance business its top priority.
Take, for example, the much vaunted push of Apple in services, which took center stage at an event held on its Apple Park campus Monday morning. New services, such as Apple Arcade, Apple News Plus and Apple TV Plus, should all be the first, and the best, on iPhone or Mac, to help the company increase revenue for every Apple user in the world.
And then there is Apple Card, the new credit card offered with Goldman Sachs, designed to work with Apple Pay. In addition to the obvious benefits of simply getting into the credit card business, the launch of this card is an intriguing gesture that suggests how Apple views the state of the smartphone business.
If you feel charitable, you can reasonably pretend that Apple only does what it always does: take something that already exists and improve it. Credit cards, in general, are pretty bad; Apple's free alternative, security-focused and offering instant rewards, seems to be at least a bit more humane – anyway on paper.
Read more: Apple's New Apple Card Credit Card Has No Hidden Fees or Late Payment
The other way of looking at it is that this is a clever business for Apple. Not only does the company have a grip on the lucrative financial services market, but it also makes it much less attractive to switch from an iPhone to Android. It's one thing to lose the boasted blue text bubbles that come with Apple's iMessage, but can you imagine having to cancel your credit card just because you bought a new phone?
What does Apple get
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle; anecdotally, at least some people seem really excited about the prospect of the Apple card. It is also likely that Apple will get a significant stake, knowing that Apple should be promoting it to iPhone users as soon as it will be available later this year.
At the same time, one has to wonder what Apple is getting at all of this. Note that if Apple Card promises cash backs of 2% on most purchases, paid daily to users, this amount can reach 3% for purchases made directly from Apple. This means a general discount on Apple iCloud purchases, Apple Music, App Store or even on a new Mac or iPhone.
So, if the problem is to change, it's the carrot. Taken together, they form a very clear picture: with Apple Card, you are rewarded for having delved deeper into the entire ecosystem of Apple products and services, while making it much more difficult to leave. This is important in a world where it is increasingly difficult to justify the rising price of an iPhone, even though mid-range Android phones seem quite suitable for most people.
It's not completely different from what Facebook is doing, in the middle of Mark Zuckerberg's big swing to small group private messaging.
By focusing on direct messaging and commerce, Facebook is slowly positioning itself as an intermediary between you and the real world, both in your social life and in your daily spending habits. In doing so, it is much more convenient to use Facebook and therefore much more difficult to stop doing so, which is a real concern for the social network in a post-Cambridge Analytica world.
Read more: Mark Zuckerberg's vision on Facebook is very similar to that of China, where I could not buy coffee without the application that dominates the lives of people there
In any case, the Apple card can be a good opportunity for anyone who finds its benefits attractive. But consider that there is no free meal, no matter how much your daily income, and that this convenience has the hidden cost of giving Apple more power over your digital life.
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