According to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple made a beta version of its anticipated “Apple Pay Later” feature accessible to the company’s more than 80,000 retail employees in the U.S. this week for testing.
Apple Pay Later is a “buy now, pay later” finance solution introduced at WWDC 2022 last June. Eligible consumers in the U.S. can split an Apple Pay purchase into four equal installments over six weeks with no interest or fees due. The iPhone and iPad’s Wallet app from Apple will include the capability.
According to the article, Apple Pay Later was already being tested by the company’s corporate staff.
Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that Apple Pay Later would go live “soon.” Gurman asserted that iOS 16.4, expected to start beta testing by the end of next week, might make the feature accessible to the general public. According to Apple’s website, Apple Pay Later might initially only be accessible in some states in the United States.
Similar to 2019, two months before the credit card’s launch, Apple’s store staff were given access to the Apple Card for testing.
According to the story, Apple has been working with Goldman Sachs to create a unique financing option called “Apple Pay Monthly Installments.” Customers could use this service to spread out the expense of larger transactions over many months while charging interest. Apple has yet to announce this functionality formally.
