financial

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Apple and Goldman are the FinTech Power Couple

Andrew Orr ·

Wall Street was surprised when Apple chose to partner with Goldman Sachs. According to a new article by WSJ, other financial institutions like Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase offered their services to Apple as well.

Goldman can’t do it on its own either. It is new to consumer banking, having spent most of its 150-year history catering to big companies and billionaires. Without branches, it needs other ways to find customers for its online savings and lending business. Apple, too, needs new engines of growth as iPhone sales slow.

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Apple Pay Support Comes to Over 20 Banks Worldwide

Andrew Orr ·

Aside from French banks adding support, Apple updated its list to reflect the addition of over 20 more banks.

The U.S. bank list is now so long that Apple has introduced alphabetical sub-sections to make it easier to find your bank on the list. Other new entries added to the most recently updated list include Qpay in Australia; HSBC in France; Surgutneftegasbank in Russia; Banco Mediolanum in Spain; Concord bank and UkrSibbank in Ukraine; and N26 in the UK.

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Should Apple Have its own Debit Card?

Andrew Orr ·

John Detrixhe argues that Apple should release its own debit card to prepare for the wave of contactless cards.

But consumers typically avoid moving their financial accounts and tend to be faithful, even when they dislike the service. An Apple debit card is a chance for the Silicon Valley-based company to give customers what they want—for God’s sake—before someone else does.

I’m not sure I’m sold on this idea. For a debit card maybe Apple could work with the bank it uses for device financing. I think what would be nice though is for Apple Pay Cash to work more like its own bank.

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Did You Know the IRS Offers Free Tax Filing?

Andrew Orr ·

Private tax companies don’t want you to know this, but if your income is below US$66,000 the IRS offers free tax filing software. If your income is above US$66,000 you can still file for free, but you’ll have to do it manually with fillable forms. However, thanks to the long government shutdown this year, tax returns will end up being late.

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5 Ways to Improve Apple Services

Andrew Orr ·

Michael Grothaus writes about five ways to improve Apple services, a drum that Tim Cook has been beating for the past couple years.

The problem for Apple is that the iPhone is such a large part of its business. If the company is going to continue to grow, what product could step up to take the place of lagging smartphone sales?

I’ll paraphrase Kelly Guimont’s comment on a recent episode of Daily Observations. If Apple truly wanted to be a services company, it should have been improving services all along. Don’t wait until the last minute when the iPhone puts you into panic mode.

Chronicle is a Beautiful App That Gives You Bill Reminders
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Chronicle is a Beautiful App That Gives You Bill Reminders

Andrew Orr ·

I recently started using Chronicle for bill reminders and I’m glad I found it. The app gives you a calendar view, along with a list of bills that you enter. Name the bill, add a category, amount, and due date, and forget about it. Plus, Chronicle syncs with the available Mac version via iCloud, so you can view and pay your bills everywhere. In addition to reminding you to pay your bills, Chronicle keeps track of all your payment history, including confirmation numbers, so you always have proof of payments. New to Chronicle is the Pro version. Available as an in-app purchase, Chronicle Pro gives you access to all new features of Chronicle as they are updated. Chronicle Pro is US$3.99/year and gives you features like Amount to Save, Intelligent Estimated Amount Due, and Forecast View. App Store: Free (Offers In-App Purchases)