Apple’s annual WWDC event has birthed a new disruption in the BNPL (buy now pay later) market that will likely change the leadership. The iPhonemaker announced during the event, the launch of its own buy now, pay later, sending the stock of Affirm down 6% on Monday.

Being the latest bigwig to join the burgeoning BNPL industry, Apple introduced new incentives that will give it a competition edge. Insider has the story.

The Cupertino company  announced Apple Pay Later, which is fully integrated into Apple’s digital wallet and allows its users to pay back any purchase made with Apple Pay in four installments. Apple said its buy now, pay later option boasts zero interest rates and no late fees.

The new payment option from Apple has long been rumoured, which is perhaps why Affirm pared its losses and traded down just 3% about one hour after Apple’s announcement. Still, Affirm is down 75% year-to-date, and is off more than 86% from its 52-week high.

Apple Pay Later is available wherever Apple Pay can be used, including for in-app purchases and shopping on the web. Additionally, the new payment installment plan is fully integrated with existing point-of-sale terminals, so retailers won’t need to upgrade their POS systems to enable Apple Pay Later.

Any purchase made with Apple Pay Later can be tracked and managed through the Apple Wallet app on the iPhone. Apple’s first foray into the buy now, pay later space was with its Apple Credit Card, which allowed users to make monthly installment payments with 0% interest for specific Apple products purchased at Apple Store locations.

Now Apple will compete with the likes of Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay in the buy now, pay later space, but Apple highlighted its plans to launch the service were more of an effort to help its iPhone users completely replace their physical wallet. The company is working towards that goal by launching state-approved digital drivers licenses, among other features. It is not clear if, like others, Apple will use partnership to expand its BNPL business.

Apple stock traded up half a percent in Monday trades. The company also unveiled new MacBooks, and iOS 16 for the iPhone. Speculation has mounted that Apple may unveil an augmented reality product.

Elon Musk said that Twitter has violated the terms of his acquisition bid by refusing to provide data to clear his doubts about bots, giving him the potential right to walk away from the deal.

Musk’s lawyer sent a letter to SEC on Monday, accusing Twitter of breaching his rights to the information and data. The deal has faced hurdles from the beginning. Twitter had resisted Musk’s attempt to make a hostile takeover by adopting the poison pill after the Tesla CEO purchased 9% of the microblogging app’s shares in April.

However, the trouble shifted as Musk started questioning the actual number of Twitter users. Musk was determined to understand how much of Twitter’s userbase is made up of bots, rather than actual human beings.

Though Twitter provided an answer, saying bots and other false accounts make up less than 5% of its active users, Musk is seeking data from the social network to conduct his own analysis. The deal took the wrong turn as Twitter is clearly not willing to release the data. Now Musk has accused it of violating their original agreement, in which he waived the usual due diligence that usually accompanies such buyouts.

“Mr. Musk believes the company is actively resisting and thwarting his information rights (and the company’s corresponding obligations) under the merger agreement,” the letter said. “This is a clear material breach of Twitter’s obligations under the merger agreement and Mr. Musk reserves all rights resulting therefrom, including his right not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement.”

Musk is claiming that Twitter’s unwillingness to provide him with the data gives him the right to walk away from the deal without having to pay the penalty.

Musk will pay a $1 billion breakup fee if he chooses to walk away from the deal. In June, Twitter said the required waiting period for government oversight of large mergers had elapsed and it’s ready to enforce its end of the agreement.

Weighing in on the matter, analysts said Musk is looking for an excuse to abandon the deal which has indirectly cost Tesla a fortune. The electric vehicle company has lost more than $400 billion since Musk started his Twitter bid in April.

A Twitter spokesperson said in response to the letter, that the company is committed to the deal only on the terms of the original merger agreement.

“Twitter has and will continue to cooperatively share information with Mr. Musk to consummate the transaction in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement,” they said. “We believe this agreement is in the best interest of all shareholders. We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms.”

In May, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal had said that Musk’s method for calculating bot accounts wouldn’t work, because the analysis would require private information that Twitter can’t share. Musk responded with a poop emoji.

While both Musk and Twitter are not ready to back down on their stand on the bots, the SpaceX CEO is getting a surprising backing. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday he is probing Twitter for lying to Texans about the number of users on its platform.

“Today I’m investigating Twitter for potentially misleading Texans on the number of its “bot” users. I have a duty to protect Texans if Twitter is misrepresenting how many accounts are fake to drive up their revenue,” he said.

As part of the probe, Paxton is demanding all electronic messages related to bots and ads – including text messages, voice mail and other documents that matter, from Twitter employees. It is not clear if the demand will be honored via the Freedom of Information Act – if that happens, it will heavily impact the deal.

APC should not be pressured to zone its presidential ticket to the South since Southwest and Southsouth are unable to subzone it to Southeast. Indeed, no politician from Southsouth and Southwest must hide on equity and fairness while arguing for zoning APC ticket to South when the same people cannot subzone to Southeast.

It is the same call for PDP: when it refused to zone it to the Southeast, there was no need wasting time zoning it to the South. Atiku has the ticket now.

I expect APC to keep this in the North because Southsouth and Southwest provided strong reasons that Nigeria has “matured” and “outgrown” zoning and quota system. This is a major precedent. At the end of everything, I want to see this applied in all domains of Nigerian existence including admission, business permits, etc where quota, natural and artificial advantages, comparative disadvantages, etc would be muted and discarded for the “best” to emerge. 

I am beginning to feel like the 2023 election may begin the turning point in Nigeria. Kill zoning for politics. Kill quota in everything. Let competitive spirit return in the land.

Comment on Feed

Comment 1: Prof don’t you think you’re being unfair to the other south zones?They can’t be held responsible for the failures of that zone to get their act together.When Buhari contested,there was nothing like this zone in the North must get the ticket.Let the SE fight for it.

My Response: You are rewriting history. The SE politicians are just like SW and northern politicians. SW did not support OBJ, that did not stop him from winning. Northern delegates voted for GEJ in 2011 even when they had many from the North; they voted for GEJ.. Everything you wrote against SE is disinformation. It would be bad if all the SE politicians are aligned 100% – I am happy some are in APC, PDP, etc.

Buhari did not win because of North; he won because of SW. Never think it is about any region getting “act together”. If North decides it is SE, it will happen irrespective of SW. SW decided it was North in 2015 and it happened. That is how it works.

… He is making it look like Kwakwanso was not running when Northern delegates voted for Jonathan. He was making it look like Buhari would have won without SW or there was a magical strategy on unification why Buhari won. That SE delegates voted for other regions is typical: Northern delegates voted for GEJ and Nigeria voted for OBJ even when SW did not accept him. 

Comment 2: Ndubuisi Ekekwe , what do you think of this statement credited to former minister of Aviation – Osita Chidoka?… “No other group did more damage to the idea of zoning than the 80 out of 95 Igbo delegates to the last Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convention who cast their votes against Igbo aspirants. The 80 delegates and their sponsors, in a tragic display of lack of group consciousness and primacy of personal interest, sent the country a clear and loud message: zoning is not an issue dear to Ndigbo. Igbo PDP delegates told Nigerians that a President from the Southeast is not a priority and not an issue of justice and fairness. The country heard them”. 

My Response: Chidoka is wrong and I think his political sagacity is limited. I would be more worried if Igbo delegates just vote for SE. The Northern delegates in 2011 voted for GEJ against their own. Nigeria voted for OBJ in 1999 even when SW rejected him. Chidoka should see the big picture. We cannot win by being local. We win by arguing at the big picture. That picture is that Nigeria must consider since we cannot win via “numbers” because they are not there. We need our own quota. Period.

My Response: “So the south east was a major beneficiary of GEJ regime ,so they should have combined to give the south south ,” – incorrect. You would have said that SE was the political beneficiary of GEJ govt but went ahead to build other regions, driving on the Igbo spirit of not to be seen as favouring itself. Okonji Iweala, Pius Anyim, etc who held all those big positions for 5 years built zero road, rail tracks, airport, anything in SE but of course developed other areas. That is the Igbo spirit so that we do not take advantage to corner opportunities. In Igbo tradition, the elders serve drinks to Nwa-ada before the sons of the soil.

On SE delegates, that is not a problem. The Northern delegates voted for GEJ in 2011 even though they had politicians from the North. This is typical in politics. SW rejected OBJ but Nigeria elected him. Can APC pick Onu, Umahi and do what PDP did in SW for Obj? That is the issue.

Comment 4: Prof. the two references both in 1999 & 2011 are won through the ballot even though we all knew it wasn’t free and fair due to the massive electoral malpractice but all the candidates campaigned/lobbied in almost all the 36 states of the federation. The only time we can say the Nigerian presidency was negotiated was when IBB handed over to Shonekan.

One particular region in the south has created hatred even among the Southerners claiming marginalization.

We all know the election process everywhere in the world is about lobby and campaigning.

My Response: Elections in Nigeria are mostly won at the primaries, out of the powers of the citizens! Hope you know that. Delegates determine more than 90% of everything. (In America, citizens determine 100% because it is OPEN primary.). 1999 was negotiated as Nigeria decided in all major parties to nominate SW flagbearers due to Abiola case.

In 2011, GEJ was anointed and all delegates, north and south voted for him. SS governors were not even happy. But Nigeria overruled them.

Without Tinubu who brought SW, Buhari would not have won in 2015. The delegate system reduces the choices and 2 parties use that to shape the options. If APC nominates Ndubuisi Ekekwe tomorrow, magically that is the option even though you have your preference. That is the power of delegates. You general ballot has limited impact as it is a secondary phase reaction.

Nigeria 2023: PDP Throws Presidential Ticket Open, No Zoning

I stumbled on something in a Facebook business group and thought there were one or two lessons we could draw from it.

Mr. A works a regular 9-5 job and has a small drink store on the side, which he attends after work hours and on weekends. He has a salesperson who works full-time while joining in after work and on weekends. Mr. A noticed that from his sales records and inventory that the store records a lot more sales when he is around than on those days he is unable to make it to the drink store.

At first, he dismissed it to mean that people get more drinks in the evening after work and on weekends, but the situation gets worse such that he has to question having a salesperson at all. His inventory shows him that his salesman is not stealing his goods, of course, but something seems to be wrong somewhere. Why keep the store open from 9 am to 6 pm with only four sales, where you make almost a hundred sales from 6 pm to 10 pm? One weekend, Mr. A decides to install a CCTV device in the store without informing the salesperson. And over the next two weeks, he finally figured out what was going on.

This may not qualify as outright theft, but the fact is, his employee was robbing him of his business profits. He pays the rent, utilities, and even the salary for the employee, without having enough income to justify the investment. And given that this employee stays in the drink store for almost 10 hours, you can imagine the magnitude of the loss for Mr. A.

A lady recounted how her salesgirls were inflating the price of frozen foods when she was not around and pocketing the difference. She only got to know because some of the customers complained about the price difference. In this case, they were not stealing from her. They were adding a little something for themselves, but this was injuring her business integrity.

Many small and medium businesses find themselves in the same ditch. Some may never even figure out what is going on. They may feel that business is not moving as smoothly as it should. This is not limited to companies selling products; even service providers find themselves in this cage. (I will talk more about that in a subsequent post).

Why are your payment and processes not wholly automated if you sell services or digital products? Why have you not installed a system where the goods can be scanned and documented and a receipt generated? You may not get an entirely foolproof method, but automating payments and procedures will reduce the incidence of fraud and theft and make it easier to do your inventory. We will talk more about the part of the services in a subsequent post.

Do you have a similar experience? Please share what cases of employee theft you have seen. How are you using automation to improve your business output? I will have my eyes on the comment section.