The fruits of Apple’s success may soon be spoiling. Perhaps Apple’s culture of planned obsolescence has finally caught up with them, forcing the company’s hand into new and strange markets. And as the iPhone (Apple’s butter) dips to fourth place in global smartphone sales, the historically device-oriented company now seeks to make inroads in everything but, focusing on apps, business services, and as of this month, money lending.
The tech giant teamed up with the lovely financiers at Goldman Sachs to roll-out the Apple Card (which comes with basic, non-wow-factor benefits). While it can be used to streamline purchases through the App Store and related points of sale, it is more or less a standard credit card. It can’t play music. It doesn’t dish out Wi-Fi. And technologically speaking, it’s a dud. But with the promise of low APRs, wide-approval rates, and forced arbitration (in the event that a pesky lawsuit ensues), Apple is hoping that as it falls from the top of the tech world, it will land with a splash in the world of finance. In anticipation of said splash, we look back at some of the company’s blunders to assess the viability of this latest move into straight-up capitalism.