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Should Apple start a bank?

  • Yes

    Votes: 3 7.7%
  • No

    Votes: 36 92.3%

  • Total voters
    39

BigQid

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 23, 2010
203
2
This morning it hit me that I wish there was an app that let you just pay your bills from your phone. Then I realized Apple would be perfect for it. When NFC becomes widely available they could be your debit card. If they want more profitability they can go into mortgages and credit card and just target lower risk clients. They already have so many people's information. The only issue is it would make losing your phone that much more serious but with pin numbers, especially longer ones it would be fairly secure.
Some people don't like banks others might feel like banks are bad business. On the first point, my experience with certain banks is that at times their fee structure seems unfair. I love my current bank for their fairness and helpfulness even though right now I've moved far from any local branch. On the second point, the banks are in trouble because everything is worth less than what it was sold at years back but Apple would be coming in after that point.
 

belvdr

macrumors 603
Aug 15, 2005
5,945
1,372
I've never read it, but I am fairly confident their corporate mission statement excludes any banking functionality.
 

MacDawg

Moderator emeritus
Mar 20, 2004
19,823
4,504
"Between the Hedges"
I am always surprised when people suggest things like this
Just because Apple is good (very good) at a few things doesn't mean they would be good at everything

In fact, one of the main reasons Apple is so good, is they focus on their core business like nobody else, even when it frustrates the hell out of their user base

I believe Apple wants to be insanely great at what they do (and make money)
More than any other company, Apple listens to their purpose more than their customers
It can be argued that is good and bad
What can't be argued right now is the success of their business model
 

LostSoul80

macrumors 68020
Jan 25, 2009
2,136
7
How in the world could anyone come up with such an idea, and then have the courage to post it in a public forum. :confused:
 

jackc

macrumors 65816
Oct 19, 2003
1,490
0
That would be a good way to see a dive in their stock price, as they absurdly overreach into unrelated businesses. Then buy up the shares. Profit!
 

Suno

macrumors 6502
Dec 12, 2011
252
1
No. Just no. I get Macrumors is populated with Apple-fans, but what is it with some of these people wanting Apple to control just about every aspect of their lives? Do you really want to go to iBank instead of some credit union?
 

snberk103

macrumors 603
Oct 22, 2007
5,503
91
An Island in the Salish Sea
No.

The personal information Apple has on their customers would not be useable by a (hypothetical) bank as it is protected by legislation from this kind of extended use.... at least in Canada (and I believe Europe) where personal information seems to be more protected.... I don't know about the US.

Apple already makes more money than most banks by not being a bank.... why would they add a division to make less money?

Much more likely is that Apple will make a deal deal with a bank that will see Apple act as the gateway between the bank and your banking activities, and Apple will take a small slice of each transaction. Without taking on the risk of actually running a bank.
 

boss.king

macrumors 603
Apr 8, 2009
6,386
7,634
Guys, I've got it! Apple should open an equestrian themed gym! And maybe a chain of coffee places. They could take on Starbucks!

:rolleyes:
 

whoathere

macrumors 6502
Feb 8, 2006
356
3
Rockford, IL
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

To invest capital into something that will make less money than current business plan doesn't really make sense.
 

tigres

macrumors 601
Aug 31, 2007
4,214
1,326
Land of the Free-Waiting for Term Limits
This is a joke right?

Do you know anything about banking- and the regulations involved? Neither does apple.

Just because they have $$$$$$ does not make them banking material.
Why don't they just join the UN for that matter and start bailing out countries in default.
 
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