Hello everyone. We will continue the discussion found in yesterday’s update regarding Apple’s fintech strategy. There was a consistent theme to incoming member questions regarding Apple’s fintech strategy. After answering that topic, Neil looks at one way to measure Apple’s ecosystem strength by country. The update concludes with news of Google getting ready to unveil a foldable smartphone. Let’s jump right in.

Apple’s Fintech Play Outside the U.S.

There was one consistent theme to incoming member questions and comments regarding yesterday’s discussion about Apple’s fintech strategy: When will Apple bring these features to other countries?

Here is the current availability for Apple’s fintech portfolio:

Apple Pay: 71 countries and regions
Apple Card: U.S. only
Apple Cash: U.S. only
Apple Savings: U.S. only
Apple Pay Later: U.S. only

For a global company, the following list is far from ideal. While Apple users in the U.S. are seeing the latest and greatest from Apple in terms of the company’s fintech play, outside the U.S., it has been slim pickings. And more worrying for non-U.S. Apple customers, it’s not clear when these fintech features will become available in other countries. Apple has not given any indication of rollout timelines or even the feasibility of global rollouts. For example, the Apple Savings account launched on Monday is only available to U.S. residents with a social security number of individual taxpayer identification number. There are no announced plans for additional country support, partially because Apple Savings requires an Apple Card which is only available in the U.S.

We can say with confidence that Apple would want to bring these fintech features to more countries. The ideals underpinning these features are universal (financial well-being and data privacy), even though they may not necessarily match all government allowances and goals.

As for why these features have limited distribution, my suspicion is

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