Vivo Joins Android Brands Looking to Compete With Apple Card

[MacRumors]

Chinese smartphone maker Vivo appears to be preparing "VivoCard" as a rival to Apple Card, following similar moves by Apple competitors Google, Samsung, Huawei, and Oppo.

According to Chinese trademark filings from late last month seen by DroidMaze, Vivo is attempting to trademark "VivoCard." The trademark is filed under international classifications, meaning that the company hopes to use the "VivoCard" brand overseas.

Apple launched the Apple Card in 2019 as a credit card that is linked to Apple Pay and built directly into the iPhone's Wallet app. Apple partners with Goldman Sachs for the card, which is optimized for ‌Apple Pay‌ but will still work as a traditional credit card for all of your transactions. Apple Card also offers a number of features such as Daily Cash, spending tracking, purchase notifications, an engraved titanium physical card, and more.

Following the launch of Apple Card, leaked images showed that Google was developing its own physical and virtual debit card in partnership with banks in the United States, featuring the ability to add or remove funds from the card after connecting a bank account.

In 2020, Samsung launched "Samsung Pay Card" in the captive market of the UK, where Apple Card is currently unavailable, with a comparable offering of cashback, instant spend notifications, and software integration. Huawei has also launched "Huawei Card," featuring a very similar model to Apple Card with a physical and virtual card, cashback, and other perks.

Last month, similar Chinese trademark filings revealed that Oppo was the next Android brand looking to join the smart card market, but the news that Vivo is also planning to move into the space means that Apple is likely to face at least five Android competitors to Apple Card in the near future.

Given the increasing number of smart card options from major tech companies, it is likely that VivoCard will seek to compete with cashback and software integrations, but little else is known about the company's new finance product at this early stage.

Article Link: Vivo Joins Android Brands Looking to Compete With Apple Card

 

[Rshill]

This just seems so stupid. Who gets a credit card purely our of brand loyalty.

 

[ilikewhey]

the real question is, whos gonna use credit card in china. alipay and similarly like it already works really well in china.

 

[nwcs]

Not interested. Wasn’t interested in ApplePay* and not interested in these clones.

*Correction, meant AppleCard

 

[ugahairydawgs]

This just seems so stupid. Who gets a credit card purely our of brand loyalty.

You haven't met people that make poor financial decisions?

 

[aknabi]

When I worked for Apple's original design firm I was on many projects with folks like those mentioned in China and Korea... in every single discovery brief the client would say "We want to make it just like Apple. Copy Apple"... even when we had solutions that were superior to what Apple has they ended up just copying Apple... with no regard to strategy or goal beyond moving more units by "being like Apple" via copying vs. a cohesive strategy backed by an eco-system that maps to it... ?‍♂️

 

[FightTheFuture]

Not interested. Wasn’t interested in ApplePay and not interested in these clones.

You mean AppleCard. AppleCard is my semi-default card which I share with a different 2% card. Considering my Apple Music and AppleCare subs, along with my Apple device purchases, AppleCard is a no brainer for me.

 

[nicho]

the real question is, whos gonna use credit card in china. alipay and similarly like it already works really well in china.

the real real question is why you think that using alipay and using a credit card are analogous... alipay is equivalent to apple pay, not apple card.

the real real real question is how you missed the line "The trademark is filed under international classifications, meaning that the company hopes to use the "VivoCard" brand overseas." Overseas being... not in China.

 

[nwcs]

You mean AppleCard. AppleCard is my semi-default card which I share with a different 2% card. Considering my Apple Music and AppleCare subs, along with my Apple device purchases, AppleCard is a no brainer for me.

Yes, I meant AppleCard. Too many Apple* named things.

 

[libertysat]

Wish Apple card was or had a Visa vs their MasterCard.
Costco doesn't take MC

Been using AppleCard from launch

 

[jav6454]

I don't see the benefit of owning more than 1, and stretching it, 2 credit cards. I don't see why some people have on average 3+

One main credit card and one secondary backup. Why do companies believe we want so many?

 

[imnotarobot]

I have two, AppleCard, and a Visa to use at Costco since they stupidly don't support MasterCard.

 

[Deguello]

I don't see the benefit of owning more than 1, and stretching it, 2 credit cards. I don't see why some people have on average 3+

One main credit card and one secondary backup. Why do companies believe we want so many?

AMEX for the travel benefits.

Discover because AMEX isn’t accepted everywhere and isn’t great for rewards, anyway, and because its cashback reward partners are pretty useful for me right now.

Visa because AMEX and Discover still aren’t accepted everywhere.

Mastercard because I wanted the check out Apple’s card.

 

[jav6454]

AMEX for the travel benefits.

Discover because AMEX isn’t accepted everywhere and isn’t great for rewards, anyway, and because its cashback reward partners are pretty useful for me right now.

Visa because AMEX and Discover still aren’t accepted everywhere.

Mastercard because I wanted the check out Apple’s card.

I'd say, that I have found (in my personal travels) 99.6% of the time, I have been able to use my AMEX. Heck, even in China it has been accepted everywhere I went with perhaps quite few exceptions.

 

[ian87w]

I'm not sure why they think they can just do this. The key here is partnering with a strong financial institution (eg. Goldman Sachs with Apple). Who's Vivo going to partner with? Does it actually make sense in their own market, where digital payments like Wechat pay is already the standard? Note that Apple Card is only in the US for now because credit card is an established financial tool in the country. That's not the case in many other countries, where modern digital payments are more of the norms than credit card since a credit history database is lacking.

This feels more of a "we want to copy Apple" than an actual thought through strategy.

Doing a physical card actually feels backwards. The world is shifting into purely digital payments, and often bypassing the traditional banks and payments.

 

[Deguello]

I'd say, that I have found (in my personal travels) 99.6% of the time, I have been able to use my AMEX. Heck, even in China it has been accepted everywhere I went with perhaps quite few exceptions.

99.6% isn’t everywhere. And, besides, the rewards aren’t great but the travel benefits more than pay for the membership fee, for me. So, it’s good for that, specifically, but not as good as others for pretty much anything else.

 

[Baritone_Guy]

I went for the Apple Card for privacy reasons. It is a different beast than just slapping your logo on another banks product. Look at the terms for the others, they track you, sell your information amongst other things. The look at the terms for the AC.

I am tired of having my data used for mining. I have three cards. A Capital One Savor for dining only. An Amazon Visa for Amazon only and the Apple Card for everything else.

 

[newyorksole]

This just seems so stupid. Who gets a credit card purely our of brand loyalty.

You’re kidding lol.

 

[pankajdoharey]

Google should launch a Card Specification called Android Card that works on Google Pay, that has a better chance of success.

 

[ariusbb]

Vivo=Oppo=OnePlus=Realme=iQOO
Owner of all these brands is BBK Electronics:

BBK Electronics - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It is the largest smartphone manufacturer globally - it is not Xiaomi or Samsung or Apple.
Maybe news sites should start reporting on BBK numbers and not individual numbers for their brands (e.g. Vivo or Oppo)