Apple

Apple keeps sweetening the deal for prospective Apple Card users, with Walgreens the latest to offer cash-back rewards.

High-tech heavyweights like Google, Amazon and Apple have tied payments to broader financial services, added to the view that banks are less relevant, writes Polyient Labs' Brad Robertson.

Banks have to be more resourceful with technology and less dependent on high interest rates.

To other companies, Apple Card's pitch to consumers is not just free marketing; it's an entirely new market for a traditionally business-centric product.

A J.D. Power official says supplemental benefits — many centered on travel cards — need to be pared down. His comments followed the company’s release of survey data that showed these hard-to-understand benefits were a drag on customer satisfaction.

Apple is expanding the list of merchants where Apple Card users may earn 3% cash back, starting with Uber.

Apple is far from the first to apply a high-tech spin to the ordinary payment card. Several other companies before it have experimented with technology and materials in the hopes of providing a unique form of payment.

Offering 3% on purchases through its App Store, Apple hopes to make its competitors' phones a less-appealing option; a call for speeding up FedNow.

Lightico is focusing on how users engage with institutions on a mobile device, something the company believes is a shortcoming among card issuers.

Apple's massive user base, fully digital enrollment system, merchant reach and partnership with Goldman Sachs threaten retail banks on multiple fronts.