Apple's retail staff is reportedly testing its 'buy now, pay later' service

guest · Feb 8, 2023

The Apple Pay feature will let customers split the cost of purchases.
By Mariella Moon @mariella_moon - February 8, 2023

Apple has expanded the internal testing for its Pay service's buy now, pay later feature to include its retail employees, according to Bloomberg. When the tech giant's experimental features make their way to its retail staff, that's typically a sign that it's going to be released in the near future.
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The tech giant first announced the pay later functionality for Apple Pay at its WWDC event in June 2022. It was supposed to arrive alongside iOS 16, but the company changed its mind and rolled out the new mobile platform without the feature in tow. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported at the time that the company was having "fairly significant technical and engineering challenges in rolling out the service," which led to delays.

When Apple introduced pay later, it said the payment option will give users a way to split the cost of purchases into four equal installments paid over six weeks with no additional interest or fees. Gurman now says that the company is also working with Goldman Sachs Group to offer an option that splits up the cost of large purchases into several months with interest on top.
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guest · Feb 9, 2023

Apple Pay Later is activated server side
By Shaun - February 9, 2023

First, there was Apple Pay; then Apple said, “Let there be Apple Pay Later”. For those not following the tech giant’s steps, this might sound like a joke but, incredibly, it isn’t. Apple Pay Later was announced at WWDC in 2022 and is a feature that offers to split your purchases with Apple Pay into four equal, six-week payments.
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The major selling point is that these installments won’t have interests or fees to pay. It will come as a built-in feature in the Apple Wallet app. Even before its unveiling in 2022, Apple Pay Later was being tested among Apple’s corporate employees.

Apple Pay Later works in conjunction with the MasterCard network for this and requires no special integration for merchants, so it’s likely its adoption rate will be pretty high. Apple is even setting up a subsidiary, Apple Financing, for this.
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Now Gurman commented on his Twitter account that Apple Pay Later is activated server side. This is important since it means it’s not tied to iOS 16.4 and could be released independently from a new OS.
A Game Changer?
Making Apple Play Later a separate entity from iOS is a smart move, and allows implementation with fewer restrictions. As for the service itself, there’s a lot of expectation, especially in markets like the US where weekly wages are more common.

However, it remains to be seen if it’s as useful for people who receive monthly payments given the short interval between payments. If you’re among this group, fret not. Apple has been developing something else for you, too.
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Apple's retail staff is reportedly testing its 'buy now, pay later' service

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