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Comment by meatpuppeting | Hacker News Reader

>Apple Card was perhaps a dipping of the toes moment

Was it really? Dozens of companies have credit cards. Walmart, Uber, Paypal, Venmo, Best Buy, Amazon...it didn't real strike me as big things happening when Apple announced their credit card.

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That's because you don't have the faintest idea of how Apple differentiated their card from the competition.

How did apple differentiate their card from the competition? I don't see any reason I should prefer it to my amex.

Well, amex is pretty good in features and experience end to end. In comparison, the Uber card was garbage as it's just a badged Barclay Bank card with shitty apps and an awful purchase notification implementation.

But usually the rewards are all anyone cares about, and the Apple Card is decidedly mediocre and pell mell here.

2% back on all purchases made via contactless is pretty decent for someone who doesn't want to think about which card to use at the restaurant vs pharmacy vs grocery store.

Yeah I mean it seems like a fine card.

I guess more what I was getting at originally myself was Apple opening a credit card didn't strike me as big news of bigger things on the horizon. Given dozens of other companies do the exact same thing, some also doing the 2% back everywhere thing.

It just seemed like a pretty typical thing large companies do these days.

I still use my Amex most of the time, but Apple's app for paying your card has amazing UX. The bill is presented clearly, the amount of interest you may pay is clear, due dates are always consistent, etc. It's a bunch of small things that add up to a great experience. And there is absolutely no moat, any other bank could copy it, but they haven't yet.

There are many differentiators, but I think the most important one is that there are no fees on the Apple Card, of any kind. Including annual fees, and even including late fees. The app also actively tries to help you not pay interest, as opposed to the usual approach, which is to confuse the consumer so much that they end up paying as much interest as possible.

The customer service is also over the top.

That isn’t a very helpful comment. Perhaps you could illuminate us?

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