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| Apple Pay Vice President Jennifer Bailey speaks about Apple Card at the Steve Jobs Theater in California in this March 25 file photo. / AP-Yonhap |
By Park Jae-hyuk
Apple Card, a virtual credit card the tech firm released in the United States, Aug. 20, has drawn attention from Korean iPhone users, who have been marginalized from mobile payment systems using other smartphone brands.
Through its partnership with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard, Apple's new credit card has no annual, over-limit, late or foreign exchange fees.
Its unique design also catches the eyes of users, as it has no card number, CVV security code, expiration date or signature.
The white-and-titanium card only has the card holder's name, a chip, a magnetic strip and the Apple logo on it.
Because of the distinctive features, Korean Apple customers have been eager for the company to release the credit card here, although the company has yet to come up with any plans to offer the card outside the U.S.
News that Apple applied for trademark registration of Apple Card in Korea raised their hopes.
The release of Apple Card, however, is still facing several hurdles here.
The card should be used with Apple Pay, the company's mobile payment and digital wallet service which has yet to become available in Korea.
The payment system is unusable in Korea, because most merchants here use payment terminals for integrated circuit (IC) cards, not those based on near-field communication (NFC) technology that Apple Pay uses.
Samsung Pay has been available in Korea, because it uses both NFC and magnetic secure transmission (MST), allowing the payment service to work with older terminals.
In Korea, only 30,000 among 2.8 million merchants affiliated with card issuers support NFC-based payments.
Local card firms have remained reluctant to install NFC-based terminals, as it costs at least 150,000 won ($123) per terminal.
They jointly pushed ahead with the installation of NFC-based terminals in 2017, but the nation's financial regulator prohibited it, saying it may go against the Specialized Credit Financial Business Act that bans card issuers from bribing their affiliates.
In addition, Apple needs a local partner, given that Goldman Sachs does not do retail finance here.
Apple Card, however, may not be attractive enough for Korean financial firms to join hands with the U.S. tech giant.
"Apple Card may be an attractive product for Apple customers, but it will have a limited impact on the entire credit card market," Credit Finance Association researcher Jang Myung-hyun said in his report.
"A number of card products have already offered benefits that are similar or superior to those Apple Card will offer. Also, products of its rivals including Samsung Electronics are equipped with similar mobile payment systems."





































