Apple and Facebook venturing into new terrain

In the most recent online edition of the magazine Death and Taxes, I read an article about the projections for banking that two of the largest companies in the world right now are envisioning. Both Apple and Facebook can use in-house banking to streamline function.

For Apple, part of the answer has already been set up. Apple currently has a division of Barclay’s called Juniper. Each time Apple is paid using a credit card, Apple must pay a minimal transaction fee. If they were to promote the use of their credit line Juniper, they could keep all the loose change, which would amount to a fortune rather quickly I’d imagine. I think there is a great deal of consumer vs. bank animosity that would violate the branding that Apple has already set up for themselves.

In Facebook’s case, founder Marc Zuckerburg has been envisioning the use of Facebook credits as a widely used form of online currency for a while now. The initial uses for “presents” and other useless tools made the concept seem trivial, but if used with good application, the credits’ reputation could easily change.

I think that the crossover of these huge companies into banking could have one of two outcomes. Either it could reinstate some trust in the banking system because these companies structures would be starting fresh and not relying on old systems to make their money, or it could taint the progress they’ve made so far and become a failed venture and closed chapter in their companies history.

For a further read.

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/47406/facebook-and-apple-move-toward-banking/