Apple's push into next-generation financial services faces delays.

Delays have troubled Apple's new financial services, including "buy now, pay later" options, savings accounts, and an iPhone subscription scheme. Additionally, the corporation employs its first top human resources officer, transferring those responsibilities from its retail head.
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Apple discussed high-end iPhones last week in Power On, indicating that an Ultra model may be next.

The Starters

Financial services expansion is one of Apple Inc.'s greatest development possibilities. However, it is also one of the most difficult. Engineering and technical difficulties have slowed work and pushed back deadlines for the company's new projects.

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During the past eight months, the tech giant has revealed at least two new features: a "buy now, pay later"-style service and an app-integrated savings account program. The former, known as Apple Pay Later, was unveiled in June and was scheduled to go live in September last year. In contrast, the latter was announced in October and was expected to be delivered weeks ago.

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Two additional unannounced financial projects have also been delayed in their arrival. There is a hardware subscription program for the iPhone and an enhanced version of the Pay Later program called Apple Pay Monthly Installments that can handle larger purchases over more extended periods – with interest.

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Apple continues to operate both of these services, but it is clear that the financial drive has been more challenging than anticipated. Engineering issues and the development of a finance system for the next generation have postponed all four efforts.

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Developing this underlying technology is one of Apple's most ambitious financial endeavors. Under a program called Project Breakout, originally outlined in March of last year, the business is creating its infrastructure to manage interest calculations, incentives, credit checks, approvals, and transaction records — all of which are now managed by third parties. 

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There have been recent indications of advancement. The business is set to deploy the first version of Apple Pay Later to users after a delay of many months. Apple began enabling business staff to test the function a few weeks ago. And early this month, it made this available to retail staff, establishing a test group of tens of thousands of individuals.

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The company informed retail employees in an internal memo that beta testers may not share screenshots or demos of the tool. Additionally, they cannot discuss it with anybody within or outside Apple. "Participation in this feature preview is subject to the confidentiality agreements you signed as a condition of your employment with Apple," the company stated.

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In 2019, the business adopted a similar procedure to the Apple Card, releasing it to retail staff around one month before the general public release.

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The following state of Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Wisconsin do not have access to the Pay Later beta test. I've also heard that the Towson, Maryland, unionized Apple shop has not been given a choice. Last year, the corporation generated outrage when it failed to provide its most recent employee benefits to employees at that site.

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In line with other "buy now, pay later" programs, Apple advised store staff that Pay Later loans will involve soft credit checks that do not affect credit ratings.

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Given that the retail beta test only debuted last week, I'd expect the functionality to be made available to the general public around March or April. The service is not dependent on a certain release, such as iOS 16.4, but may be enabled over the air on iOS 16.3, as the company stated.

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Apple will observe the performance of the initial version of Pay Later before expanding the feature to larger transaction amounts. The service will rely on an in-house lending company, and Apple would be wise to observe its performance before establishing a broader offering with partners and interest rates.

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The Apple savings account follows. When the firm introduced this functionality in October, it said the service would be available in the "coming months."

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Apple swiftly implemented the underlying code to allow the function in iOS 16.1 last year, and the service's partner, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., released the service's terms and conditions in December. Since then, neither Apple nor Goldman Sachs has commented on the release.

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