Apple, which has identified financial services as a growth area, has experienced delays in rolling out such products, including Apple Pay Later, a “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) service announced in June 2022 and initially scheduled to launch in September. The service reportedly began rolling out in a beta test among Apple’s retail employees this month and could be available to consumers by March or April this year, according to recent reports. A proposed high-yield savings account tied to the Apple Card and Wallet app was unveiled in October but has yet to release.

Also idling for takeoff on the runway at Cupertino are an iPhone hardware subscription service and something called Apple Pay Monthly Installments. A scaled-up version of BNPL, which was said to cap at $1,000, the Apple Pay Monthly Installments plan accommodates larger transactions over longer periods and charges interest.

Neither the iPhone hardware subscriptions nor Apple Pay Monthly Installments have officially been announced, though both have been the subject of media reports.

Bloomberg says cracking the financial services sector has “proven more difficult than expected” for Apple, even while attributing the delays for all four services to “engineering challenges, as well as work on a next-generation financial system that will support them.”

Apple has been ambitious in developing proprietary programs for calculating things like interest payments, rewards and credit checks, things it had previously offloaded to third-party “partners.” Bloomberg has referred to that development initiative as “Project Breakout.” Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggested Apple Pay Later “could be introduced as an update to the current iOS 16.3, rather than an upcoming variant like 16.4,” according to TechRadar.

The Apple Pay Later program was said to essentially create “a test group with tens of thousands of people” when it opened up to retail employees, according to Bloomberg, which says a memo to retail employees dictated that beta test participants “may not share screenshots or demonstrations of the feature” and “can’t discuss it with anyone either inside or outside of Apple.”

“Participation in this feature preview is subject to the confidentiality agreements you agreed to in connection with your employment at Apple,” the company wrote workers, according to Bloomberg, which writes that “the company followed a similar process with the Apple Card in 2019, providing it to retail staff about a month before the public release.”

BNPL has been reported as a burgeoning market and a natural gateway for tech companies into consumer finance.

Related:
Apple to Scrutinize Customer History for New ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Service, Bloomberg, 2/14/23