Daring FireballWSJ: Visa Offers Apple Roughly $100 Million to Switch Apple Card’s Network From Mastercard
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/04/03/via-mastercard-apple-card
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/04/03/via-mastercard-apple-card
Rich@daringfireball From a global perspective, there seems to be an advantage to Amex also being the issuer though? Apple Card still feels very much USA-only, because Apple also needs to find a bank to partner with in every country they want to release it to. Amex could possibly accelerate that by a lot.
Max Horn@richtf @daringfireball isn't it the other way around? Visa and MasterCard are global; in europe Amex is exotic and I know few shops that will accept it (mainly a few posh restaurants, everyone else is not willing/able to pay their absurd fees)
Nit@maxhorn @richtf @daringfireball yeah I’ve got all 3 and like to use AmEx for air miles. But I’ve gotten into the habit of asking if the retailers supports it before paying. It’s hit and miss. Their fees make it undesirable especially to smaller retailers.
I think I recently read that in the UK Visa and Mastercard have a combined 95% market share.
@maxhorn @daringfireball Network, yes. But Amex are both a network *and* an issuer. For example, Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs in the USA. But that’s not a bank here in the U.K., or in many places globally, so no Apple Card for us unless/until Apple finds a U.K. partner bank. But Amex is already a global card issuer, so that could potentially accelerate the global rollout.