Apple's retail store iOS app already does some pretty cool stuff. It lets you buy Apple products and get them delivered right at your doorstep. It knows when you walk into an Apple store, more specifically which Apple store, and lets you know workshop schedules and can get you genius appointments.
What is next for the Apple Store app? Self checkout.
At least that's what MacRumors' sources claim, which does make a lot of sense. Apple has more than 200 million iTunes users whose accounts are tied with their credit card information, which gives the company a head start in this space.
MacRumors reports:
Apple is planning to launch an update to its retail store iOS app that will allow consumers to utilize self-checkout for purchases of accessories and other shelf-stocked items at the company's retail stores. According to our source, self-checkout purchases will be charged via the Apple Store app to the customer's iTunes Store account.
Now obviously you can't just walk off by checking out with the app, you would have to show a confirmatory email (receipt) from Apple to one of the retail employees to let them know that you have indeed paid for what you're taking away.
The Apple Store app would reportedly be updated on the third of November, and would come bundled with these new features.
Also important to note is that Apple sells Square credit card readers through their stores. Although this rumored feature doesn't directly compete with Square, both products fall in the (offline) payment space.
We see this as Apple setting up the stage before the launch of NFC enabled devices. Back when rumors about an NFC enabled iPhone started floating around, we noted:
Although NFC has been adopted by big companies like Google, Samsung and Nokia, barring Google Wallet we haven't seen any useful application of NFC, at least in the US.
If Apple can make its 200 million credit card holding customers comfortable with the idea of using their iTunes account for real world purchases, NFC would just be another technology that works behind the scenes.
Apple Store is a good start, and with time we can expect Apple to start talking to other brick and mortar stores as well. In short term, you can expect the duration of your Apple Store visits to reduce using the self-checkout option.
What more would you expect from Apple in the payment space? Peer to peer payments? A Paypal rival? Discounts?
[via MacRumors]
This is a bit scary ….
Can I have a bundled list of peoples UDID #’s now please? Before this is implemented?
Its seems like it would be almost to easy to spoof someones info and run the apple store app with someone else’s udid. thank John Smith you just paid for my new iMacs, speakers, and iTV
What does the UDID have to do with anything? The purchases are going to be done using an iTunes account.
thats even scarier…… manage to keylog a few itunes accounts and walk out of the store with new computers. I would hope that at least minimal security conforming iTunes account to registered devices would be in place. But even then that would be easy to bypass.
Are you serious? People have been using iTunes accounts all this time and nothing like this has happened(at least to my knowledge and if it was a real problem it would be all over the internet) and how would anyone possibly be able to key log these iTunes accounts considering its going to be over cell network, I don’t know about you but I don’t know anyone that owns or would be able to afford the equipment to sniff cell data. People purchases items on their phone all the time now a day i.e Amazon, eBay. Also, apple sales people have been using iPod touches/iPad to process people’s credit cards for a while now and guess what they are processed over Wi-Fi. If there was a real issue of security apple wouldn’t implement it.
Also not to mention the fact that when pickup the product, the person needs to present the receipt which is emailed. So not only would a hacker need to hack the iTunes account but the person’s email as well.
You Keylog a public computer …not that hard. When someone logs into their iTunes account you have their password … Not that hard. Why aren’t people doing it right now …. Well for one if you buy an app using my iTunes account I get the app not you. If you buy a computer buying an iTunes account you walk out of the store with the computer and I get the bill. And yes it happens all the time.. Amazon, eBay, PayPal…. Accounts get hacked all the time and phishers walk away with the loot while you fight the charges.
I am not saying this is a bad thing … Don’t get me wrong… But I seriously do want to see better security. I am sure they will have more security in place than what the article suggests now, but ATM it just sounds like a train wreck waiting to happen.
Yeah but phishers work by creating fake identical websites or stealing cookies. No one can really make a fake Apple Store app considering it would need to be approved by apple. And if someone orders something over the cell phone network you can packet sniff a public computer all you want but your not gonna even get a single piece of customer data. To sniff out such data someone would need gsm or cmda specific equipment. The only way anyone would be able to packet sniff that data would be if they are connected to the public Wi-Fi and most people don’t have the brains, skill and tools to even be able to decrypt the data they obtained better yet be able to save the data and leave the store with it to come back later and use it.
Also key logging a public computer won’t do anything considering this is only to be implemented into iOS Apple Store app. So this purchasing process with only work using an iDevice such as iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch.
Anyone else hear about nokias bendable phone?
That shit is dope!
Works only in US store?
this is gonna be sweet. =D
It would be awesome if Apple upgrades the Apple Store app with iPad support, even if you can always use safari to do so, why not make the app universal for all of the iOS devices?
What do you think peeps?