Anecdote Reveals That Steve Jobs Had The Idea For An Apple Card Back In 2004

Earlier this year and to everyone’s surprise, Apple announced that they would launching their own physical credit card in the form of the Apple Card. However, it seems that if you’ve worked at Apple back in the early days, this might not have been quite as surprising because as it turns out, the Apple Card was one of Steve Jobs’ ideas.

This interesting anecdote was revealed by Ken Segall (the lead on Apple’s famous “Think different” campaign from the late 90s to early 2000s) on his website in which he claimed that Apple’s late co-founder had the idea for the card back in 2004. Of course, what Jobs had in mind back then and what the Apple Card is today are very different, but the concept of the credit card is similar.

For example, Jobs had imagined that instead of the card rewarding users with points that can be used towards airline miles, it would reward them with music instead (this was when iTunes was at its peak). Customers could earn themselves “iPoints” which could then be used to redeem songs from iTunes.

Jobs reportedly tried to strike up a deal with Mastercard, but unfortunately, due to Jobs being unable to get the terms that he wanted for the card, the project was ultimately shelved. Segall also shared some images of the ads that Apple’s creative team had prepared in anticipation of its launch.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, General
Tags: Apple Card, Apple Pay