Apple offers ‘buy now, pay later’ service trial to retail employees

This week, the company has contacted retail employees and offered them a trial version of the service, which will allow shoppers to split payment for purchases in installments, said Apple employees who asked not to be identified.

The company had previously launched a trial for corporate employees. Apple Pay Later It was first announced last June and planned for release last September as part of iOS 16.

However, the service was delayed until 2023 after technical challenges, Bloomberg reported. The service will run on a new financial platform that Apple has designed for the initiative in-house.

The service is said to usher Apple into the booming financial market, however, it has already faced several setbacks.

The company has used a similar rollout strategy with previous financial products. In 2019, it introduced the Apple Card credit card to retail employees about a month before its public debut, Bloomberg reported.

The first version of ‘Google Pay Later’ service will allow users to split purchases made Apple Pay in four installments paid over six weeks with no interest or fees.

The tech is also working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc to develop a version of the service called Apple Pay Monthly Installments, which would split the cost of large transactions over several months with interest. That offer hasn’t been announced yet.

Later to launch Apple Pay, the iPhone maker set up a wholly owned subsidiary called Apple Financing LLC. This allows the Cupertino, California-based company to handle lending bypassing partners. Apple has about 270 stores in the US and more than 80,000 employees nationwide, allowing the company to quickly test convenience with a large population.

(with inputs from Bloomberg)