Apple made a last week to enter the "buy now, pay later" industry, competing against the likes of Afterpay, Affirm, and Klarna which were the rage during the COVID-19 pandemic. surprise announcement all In a nutshell, it's like having an invisible credit card: you buy something now, and you pay for it later — without actually having to go through the hassle of getting an exhaustive background check, like you normally would when applying for a credit card. If you pay within the stipulated time, that's great! You don't get to pay extra. But , it's the ones that (or can't!) pay within the stipulated time that these companies are largely after. just like credit card companies don't In Apple's case, users can apply for Apple Pay Later loans of $50 to $1,000 that they then need to pay off over six weeks with no interest and no fees. Oddly enough, Apple did not disclose what would happen or how much interest it would charge if users fail to pay off their loans within that time period. However, there are dozens of articles detailing horror stories of users who learned of the of BNPL the hard way: from being by debt collectors to becoming . dark side chased shopaholics And what of the BNPL companies themselves? While they were at their during the pandemic, companies such as Afterpay are the double digit billions they were valued at just a couple of years ago. peak nowhere near Whether Apple has a game plan is yet to be seen. The company ranked #13 in this week's . Tech Company Rankings Sam Bankman-Fried Pleads Not Guilty to Bribe Charge 👨‍⚖️ It's been a while since we checked up on disgraced crypto bro Sam Bankman-Fried, but it doesn't look like his troubles are getting any better. The U.S. recently charged the founder and former CEO of the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange with bribing Chinese authorities with $40 million to unfreeze his hedge fund's accounts. Predictably, SBF pleaded not guilty to and will go to trial on Oct. 2 in a case that includes charges for misappropriating billions of dollars and violating campaign laws. the charge 👋 You’re reading HackerNoon's Tech Company News Brief, a weekly collection of tech goodness that combines HackerNoon's proprietary data with internet trends to determine which companies are rising and falling in the public consciousness. Subscribe to receive the newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday! here In Other News.. 📰 Writer and programmers are the to the rise of ChatGPT. most exposed Sonic the Hedgehog has been . murdered . E3 is dead Uh.. scientists a giant meatball from the flesh of extinct mammoths. created finds in Republican Senator Rand Paul. TikTok an unlikely savior And that's a wrap! Don't forget to share this newsletter with your family and friends! See y'all next week. PEACE! ☮️ — Sheharyar Khan, Editor, Business Tech @ HackerNoon Featured image generated using Stable Diffusion 2.1 using the following prompt: “ Tim Cook overseeing dozens of people entering Apple stores while holding bags of money”.

This story contains new, firsthand information uncovered by the writer.

Too Long; Didn't Read

Developers: Build Less. Deliver More. [Learn how]	

Apple to Consumers: No Money? No Problem 💸

Too Long; Didn't Read

Sheharyar Khan

STORY’S CREDIBILITY

Original Reporting

About Author

TOPICS

Languages

THIS ARTICLE WAS FEATURED IN...

Apple to Consumers: No Money? No Problem 💸

Too Long; Didn't Read

STORY’S CREDIBILITY

Original Reporting

About Author

TOPICS

Languages

THIS ARTICLE WAS FEATURED IN...

RELATED STORIES