Swipe & Tap: Apple’s Future as a Financial Services Company

What the growing Apple Pay ecosystem tells us about Apple’s ambitions beyond consumer tech products

For a couple of years, it has been an accepted reality that the smartphone market is a mature one. As a result, companies have been looking to expand their portfolios beyond the smartphone. Perhaps there is no company more important to watch in this sense than Apple. The iPhone is the lifeblood of Apple, still accounting for 50% of the company’s revenue. There have been many theories about what is next for Apple. Maybe they will finally dive into the mixed reality world with the long-rumored Apple AR glasses? Or maybe compete with Tesla in the even longer rumored Apple Car. Let me present another possibility: Apple is trying to become a financial services company.

A Game of Optics

You may be wondering, why would Apple think of itself as a financial services company? Apple is a company that has recognized that the road to profitability in the modern consumer tech environment is through recurring revenue. This realization is evident through the launch and support of services such as Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and Apple…