Apple extends Buy Now, Pay Later service beta to its own retail staff
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Apple is extending the internal testing of the App Store’s Buy Now, Pay Later service to its store associates and beyond the company’s own employees. While a full public launch is still pending, this latest move could be a sign that the feature is coming out relatively soon.
This information comes from a Bloomberg report (opens in new tab) by notable Apple insider Mark Gurman who spoke to some store associates. The current version of Pay Later is still a ‘trial version’, so it’s not known exactly how close it is to the final product.
Not much was revealed in Gurman’s report, other than the implication that the service appears to be working as intended. Apple Pay Later, first revealed at the WWDC 2022 event, would allow customers to split the cost of an iOS device purchase across “four equal payments over six weeks, with no interest or late fees.” It’s basically the company’s take on Klarna. When released, Pay Later is slated to make its home on Apple Wallet as an alternate payment option during checkout.
The service was originally set to launch with iOS 16, until Apple ran into “technical challenges,” according to another Gurman’s report. What these developmental defects were is not known, but they may be related to a “new financial platform” initiative.
As it turns out, those initiatives may come in the form of yet another financial service from the tech giant called Apple Pay Monthly Terms, which is being developed in partnership with Goldman Sachs. The Bloomberg report claims that users will be able to “spread out the cost of large transactions over several months.” The catch, unfortunately, is that interest will be a part of this new service. Other than that, not much is known about it as the service hasn’t even been formally announced yet.
Repeat history
Back to the launch date the reason why some like Gurman are expecting an imminent launch is because of Pay Later’s development deals with the Apple card. In 2019, the company also gave its store associates early access to the Apple Card before rolling it out to the public a month later.
That’s not to say Pay Later is definitely coming out in March, but it’s worth pointing that company out That said CEO Tim Cook recently the service will be “launching soon” in the United States. We’ve asked Apple if it could give us any clues about Pay Later’s release date, but as of this writing, we haven’t heard from them.
All we can do at this point is wait for the company to announce its next Keynote event, which is usually held in the spring if the last few years are any indication. While we have you, be sure to check out TechRadar’s recently updated list on the best personal finance software for the year to help you manage your budgets.