Bitcoin Forum

Today, I had issues with my new Macbook Pro. I really know my way around Apple but am by no means an expert.

It all started a few days back. I decided to watch the live streaming video of the iphone 6 and apple pay. In short, I use Firefox and was having streaming issues so launched Safari. Whilst clicking on the browser I found I was getting advertising pop ups and realised my comp had managed to catch a bit of an internet cold.

Earlier today I started the process of locating the offending files etc and undertaking a general clean up, health check. After an hour I was struggling and then i remembered i have 90 day online apple support and arranged a call back.

Immediately the call came through on my mobile and I was speaking with a Senior Technical Advisor and he knew his stuff and was impressive. So we set up remote access and he did his magic.

We started chatting about the streaming event and quickly got round to ApplePay. We both agreed that ApplePay is a payment method and NOTHING to do with actual currency. Apple are not interested in the currency. It can be your dollars, pounds, rubles etc. What they do care about is creating a recognised worldwide method of payment and receiving a "Transaction fee" from the banks.

This model is the same as iTunes. Apple don't create music, they just facilitate the sale/purchase of music and get a nice "Transaction Fee"

The conversation moved to Bitcoin. I asked him what Apple's views were on the subject and his reply was: Apple is considering bitcoin but waiting until it matures and there is a need. As this need arises then Apple will implement it.

He also confirmed that the consensus by his colleagues is Cryptocurrency is the future.

Finally we touched upon adoption and both agree the following. Bitcoin will develop fastest in those areas where the need is greatest and the financial infrastructure is at it's least.

Your British or USA neighbourhas little need, or desire, for bitcoin at present because he is happy with his 'safe' FIAT method. He has dollars or Pounds in his pocket. He is blissfully ignorant of the benefits and far more worried about risks and the unknown.

The Pakistani farmer, the Mexican immigrant has no bank account BUT.. once you give him a simple phone suddenly he is in control of his financial destiny and this is made possible for 2 primary reasons.

1. Digital Technology bypasses the need for physical financial infrastructure (No need for a corner Bank)

2. Financial transaction cost ceases to be prohibitive for micro transactions or, Western Union don't eat up $6 out of the $10 the mexican immigrant wishes tosend home to support his family.

Finally, the Apple chap sent me some links that he, and his colleagues follow:

http://www.techinasia.com

http://techcrunch.com

I have deliberately left out his name for obvious reasons. I hope this story illustrates that Apple is a Tech company with lots of tech savvy employees and when the time is right they will be supporting cryptocurrency as they aslo see it as the future!

If you like this then you will find it on Twitter at UK Harvey Please RT.

But this group won't have iPhones.. So it won't be ApplePay saving the world ;)

I now realize ApplePay really should have been called PayApple. Thanks :)

Hi Bitebits,

not sure what your point is as this post is not about Apple, the Corporate. It's about the sentiment of empoyee's within Apple aindicating that bitcoin, or if you prefer, cryptocurrency, is the future.

Apple is about making money so PayApple is correct on the basis they do things to make a profit.
Whether they make a profit in FIAT or bitcoin is unimportant.
My point is that Applepay is just a faciltation method and not detrimental to bitcoin.
The fact that Apple, and fundamentelly it's employees see digital cuurency as the future is good for bitcoin.

Regarding 3rd world. The point was that ANY phone can be used as a portable bank and nothing to do with Apple.

So let me clarify; Applepay has not incorporated bitcoin YET but the sentiment of the Apple employee is very Pro crypto and suggesting Apple will implement when the time is right.

Surely this is good news for bitcoin

I kind of doubt that the person who answers your technical support calls at apple really has this kind of insight. This is not the kind of information that is given to this level of employees. It is possible that he thought was giving accurate information, but it probably means nothing.

Also apple pay is meant to be a way to sell more iPhones, that is why it will not be a feature on older iPhone models (you need to upgrade to the iPhone 6 in order to use it)

Considering how secretive Apple is, even within the company, it is doubtful that a customer service rep has any idea about Apple's future plans for Bitcoin. I wouldn't rely too much on what he said.

Please accept this person is a Senior Technical Advisor not a young kid at the genius bar. I ascertained his level of knowledge was far greater than normally expected and he said he was head of the team. I had made a previous enquiry regarding Apache, Terminal, OpenSSL and digital signatures. This had come up on the system  and he chose to call himself assuming my query was along the same lines,

The subsequent information he then sent me via email reaffirmed his authority and knowledge.

My brother used to work in a technical in-bound call center. The following is what I have learned from him:

These type of technical support call centers often have various levels of technicians. The idea is to have a low level technician fix simple things, while moving more complex problems up a chain of expertise. However when things get busy, the upper level technicians will often take random calls too.

You also have people who love their job or just love being in the IT industry, even if they are just an in-bound technician. They end up making friends with the upper level technicians and often have a lot of insight into what is going on.

Then again the support guy may just have an active imagination.

Thanks for your comment and insight.

Just to say it wasn't an inbound call centre. It was an arranged call back from the Head of Technical support from their Cork, Ireland HQ.

Exactly what I thought when reading this, though I don't doubt that Apple will try make se money off of it in the future especially if it continues to grow.

Not sure you should mention who called quite so specifically  :o


Even BTC has transaction fees and lots of people expect to make a profit on operating the network, depends how efficient each system is.   We could assume BTC is better as its open and competitive and APPLE has a history of high profit margins but maybe the volume of money they exchange actually works out cheaper, its possible.  Self reinforcement, people have more confidence in a brand name and so applepay ends up cheaper.   
I still think btc is more likely to take off for people with no bank account where as apple has to accommodate government bureaucracy costs and so it raises the minimum cost most probably

My experience in a call center would say that if someone is claiming to be a "senior representative" or a "senior anything" then they are simply trying to prevent the call from being escalated to their manager.

Apple will try to compete with Bitcoin before adoptin, their egos are that big.

It's pay paradise! Where Adam and Eve has to pay for the apple!

ApplePay is very different from btci dont know why people keep comparing it.

If the person you were dealing with is on the "front lines" dealing with customers then they likely do not have knowledge of the thinkings of upper management of apple. All of the applications you mentioned are routinely used on apple products so their techs will need to know how to use and troubleshoot them.

You should understand that the information you described is likely something that would be known at only the "C" level management

They have Android, which is the biggest threat to Apple (and Microsoft as well, who will be a shell of themselves in 20 years as Windows fades out of popularity and a Free OS like Linux/Android take over and all apps are hosted on the cloud)

Any payment network that is created by apple is bound to have a lot of money put into it via development to make sure there are few to no bugs in it. There will also be a UI that is extremely user friendly. All of these things cost money, money that will need to be paid for via transaction fees (above what it costs to process traditional credit cards)