Apple's attempt into financial services has stumbled a bit, with iPhone subscriptions, 'buy now, pay later' plans, and saving accounts still failing, with technical difficulties seemingly to blame.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, in the Power On newsletter, "new initiatives have suffered engineering and technical difficulties that have resulted in slow progress and missed deadlines."
In June, Apple announced the company's 'buy now, pay later' program, with intentions for the service to launch in September last year, while its savings account "was expected to be delivered many weeks ago."
Apple's iPhone hardware subscription and Apple Pay monthly installments have also been discussed by Gurman, but neither has been announced yet. Gurman believes that the delays to all four initiatives are related to engineering difficulties as well as research on a next-generation financial system that will support them.
Although the efforts may have slowed a bit, we can expect them to come to fruition sooner rather than later. Following the launch of the Apple Pay Later beta, Gurman said he will "imagine the feature goes public by March or April."
Apple reportedly planned to launch the iPhone subscription in 2022 or 2023, so there's still time left for the business to fulfill its commitment. With the rising cost of top-end phones and a possible iPhone Ultra on the horizon, easier payment options might help Apple a lot.
Apple's attempt at financial services is stumbling a bit, with no timetable for Apple Pay Later, iPhone subscriptions, or any other of the company's recent initiatives. For more, see the M-series chips' achievements.