An MVP done right – the Apple Card as an example for a successful Minimum Viable Product

While Apple TV+ and Arcade are extensions of the existing Apple TV and Apple App Store product lines, the Apple Card is an excellent MVP example of how companies can deliver products with a (for now) limited feature set that can still change a market.

What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

The idea behind an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is to use agile methods to develop a new product with minimal features and effort that offers the greatest added value to the user. This is done in order to accelerate time-to-market while reducing the overall investment in new products and services, resulting in an overall minimization of overall risk.

Agile methods as a foundation

Many companies still have difficulties to implement agile software development methods and at the same time to deliver products as cost-efficient as possible. However, the supposedly contradictory requirements fit together well: The continuous development of software products or services using agile methods lays the foundation for implementing successful functions step by step and for estimating the market impact of an MVP early on.

While at first glance Apple did not reinvent the credit card with the Apple Card, they have laid the foundation for a product that can evolve into the credit card or credit card service of tomorrow. Apple has simply taken the traditional credit card and added some of the digital features that users are accustomed to on their iPhones. Although it is a new product, the Apple Card offers basic features that customers expect from a credit card (physical card, cashback reward system). However, core functions of traditional credit cards are being digitized: The CVV code no longer exists, but is available as a generated code to improve security – signatures, card numbers and expiry dates? Everything is rationalized away.

Instead of clinging to these old elements of credit cards, Apple has removed these unnecessary functions and integrated the Apple Card into the Apple Wallet App, which serves as a control center and dashboard for management. In this way, Apple has implemented its FaceID and TouchID security features to protect a user’s card number or CVV code. If you go one step further, the CVV code is no longer a static number printed on the back of a card, but a generated number that changes every time you use it. With the Apple Card, customers no longer have to worry about losing or having their card stolen, as additional security mechanisms have been implemented that are already available on the iPhone.

Ultimately, the Apple Card does not include any breakthrough technology and Apple actually had to develop very few new features to bring this new digital and physical product to market. They relied on the services of partners, MasterCard and Goldman Sachs, and delivered the minimal set of new software features to create a completely new product.

Depending on market acceptance of the Apple Card and the way customers actually use the card, Apple is likely to deliver new features, incentives and concepts that are new and innovative (at least in the world of credit cards). These can be simple services, from automated financing of your new Apple device with partner Goldman Sachs, to streamlined methods for spending your Apple Card cashback rewards, helping to keep those rewards within the Apple ecosystem.

MVPs reduce business risk – with high opportunities

Die Apple Card hilft Apple nicht nur dabei, seinen Kunden einen neuen Service anzubieten, sondern ermöglicht es auch, einfacher mit dem gesamten Apple Ecosystem zu interagieren. Anmelden bei Apple TV+? Autorisieren Sie einfach die Zahlung mit Ihrem iPhone. Eine neue App kaufen oder ein Arcade-Abonnement vor Ihrem langen Transatlantikflug abschließen? Ein nahtloser Prozess, bei dem ein Kunde nicht mehr seine Brieftasche herausziehen und seinen CVV-Code überprüfen oder seine gesamte 16-stellige Kreditkartennummer erneut eingeben muss.

Sollte sich der Erfolg der Apple Card nicht einstellen, hat Apple nicht viel zu verlieren. Ihr Bestreben, in den Kreditkartenmarkt mit einem innovativen Produkt einzudringen, ist mit einem geringen Risiko verbunden, da sie sich auf ein minimales Produkt konzentriert wird, das den Kunden einen großen Mehrwert bietet. Entwickelt sich die Apple Card zum Erfolg, hat Apple ein Sprungbrett, um neue Funktionen zu entwickeln und den Zahlungsverkehr wirklich zu revolutionieren.

Wir glauben fest daran, dass MVPs und agile Softwareentwicklung die Grundlagen für erfolgreiche digitale Transformation sind. Wir haben bereits Unternehmenskunden von der HDI-Versicherung bis hin zu Volkswagen geholfen, digitale Produkte schneller auf den Markt zu bringen und sicherzustellen, dass sie den Wert des Benutzers maximieren und gleichzeitig das Risiko für die Unternehmen minimieren. Wenn Sie mit einem Prozess unzufrieden sind oder sicherstellen möchten, dass Sie es für Ihr nächstes digitales Produkt alles richtig machen, nehmen Sie einfach Kontakt mit uns auf.