Apple and Goldman Planned Stock-Trading Feature for iPhones Until Markets Turned

As equities soared in 2020 and consumers flocked to trading apps like Robinhood, Apple and Goldman Sachs were working on an investing feature that would let consumers buy and sell stocks, CNBC reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the plans. From the report: The project was shelved last year as the markets turned south, said the sources, who asked not to be named because they weren't authorized to speak on the matter. The effort, which has not been previously reported, would have added to Apple's suite of financial products powered by Goldman. Apple first teamed up with the Wall Street bank to offer a credit card in 2019, and then added buy now, pay later (BNPL) loans and a high-yield savings account. The company said last month that the savings account offering had climbed past $10 billion in user deposits.

Of course they canceled it...

[TWX]

...because they're Ferengi, heads-I-win--tails-you-lose. If the result doesn't benefit them then they don't want it in production. If it had become a valid instrument used by its customers, they might well have not been able to revoke it from the customers even if it started actively harming them.

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[Tony Isaac]

While I agree with your sentiment, I don't understand why this would stop the release. The proposed feature would earn money for Apple and GS regardless of whether the market is going up or down.

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[timeOday]

The article says boredom trading and disposable assets peaked during covid:

Apple was working on the investing feature at a time of zero interest rates during Covid, when consumers were stuck at home and spending more of their time and their record savings in trading shares, including meme stocks like GameStop and AMC, from their smartphones.

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[timeOday]

For example look at the price history of this gambling/betting ETF:

https://yhoo.it/452FQK6 [yhoo.it]

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[Tony Isaac]

Sure, it peaked, but it hasn't gone away since then.

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[alw53]

Apple and Goldman Sachs, what's not to love?

Apple’s financial offerings need to

[hdyoung]

Stay a tiny fraction of what they do.

If you ever see “Apple Financial Services” becoming a big chunk of Apple’s revenues and profits, it’ll be a bad sign. That’s exactly what happened with GE. A big engineering company with a financial arm that grew and grew and came to dominate the company, while they neglected the rest of what they did. When the financial arm imploded (they always do), the company nearly broke apart in the aftermath. It’s been years and they’re recovering, but it was really painful.

Hey, Apple, all those extra goodies are nice and all, but never forget that youre a HARDWARE company number 1, an OS company number 2, and your app store is probably number 3 cause its required for 1 and 2 nowadays. Everything else is ranked 10 and below. Lose sight of that, and it means your past your prime.

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[jacks smirking reven]

Pretty much, that was the "genius" of Jack Welch in that he juiced the financial services division for quick jumps in stock price while letting the other areas of the company wither off or let them be sold because it was "too slow". It was at the same time he effectively shut down the R+D divisions of GE as well.

In retrospect the legacy of the man should be turning one of the finest examples of American business and innovation into a mere husk of itself in the mere span of a couple decades and set that ex

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[fred6666]

Apple is more a fashion company than a hardware company these days.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[EvilSS]

Rumor has it GS wants out of the deal and they are shopping around for a new partner.

(looking at you Synchrony)

Speaking of GE...

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[mjwx]

Stay a tiny fraction of what they do.

If you ever see “Apple Financial Services” becoming a big chunk of Apple’s revenues and profits, it’ll be a bad sign. That’s exactly what happened with GE. A big engineering company with a financial arm that grew and grew and came to dominate the company, while they neglected the rest of what they did. When the financial arm imploded (they always do), the company nearly broke apart in the aftermath. It’s been years and they’re recovering, but it was really painful.

Hey, Apple, all those extra goodies are nice and all, but never forget that youre a HARDWARE company number 1, an OS company number 2, and your app store is probably number 3 cause its required for 1 and 2 nowadays. Everything else is ranked 10 and below. Lose sight of that, and it means your past your prime.

Apple is a marketing company, not an hardware or OS company, this kind of transition wouldn't be out of character.

The problem Apple has is that they want the money and power that comes from being a bank with none of the oversight and regulatory compliance that comes with being a bank. Not content with massively overpriced hardware and taking 30% of everything you spend on it, they also want a fraction of every penny you spend (just like Visa and Mastercard) for effectively doing nothing, so it'll be a pe

X1 does this already

[Supp0rtLinux]

X1.. the fintech that made waves by offering cards with higher credit limits based on income and a soft pull only recently added this feature. If you're maxing out your cashback/rewards you can use it to pay off purchases, as a statement credit, or to be common stocks like Apple, Tesla, etc. I find it quite convenient.

Why make this an iOS feature or Apple app?

[sinkskinkshrieks]

Seems like Goldman was trying to drum-up business. I'm surprised they didn't move Apple into retail home loans and banking.