Revolutionizing Retail

I think that apple will change a lot of things once they make the switch to intel. By them using the exact same parts as wintel machines, they will be making a much better product that is designed a whole lot nicer and better. This will force Dell, HP, and everyone else to have to rethink their designs so that they can compete with apple on sales. A lot of people will pay an extra hundrerd or two for the better and nicer machine from apple. I think this will bring on a whole new change and way of thinking for computer makers and microsoft will be left shaking and finally decide to redesign windows from the ground up.

Umm - the basics of this wireless system are in use in every tiny litte restaurant and café in Europe already and have been for years. In fact the only places you see card swipers that are non wireless are in high volume line up transaction spaces like grocery stores and certain big box style stores.

Apple's interesting spin is the not waiting for the receipts part and linking this with their online email receipts. That I like a lot since I keep all of my web receipts in a folder together and can use that for warranty tracking - a lot easier than remembering where a wee little piece of paper got filed.

But it's nice to see this kind of thing finally taking hold in north america.

Go here for alternative commentary on the iPod Express Checkout.

http://www.ifoapplestore.com/2005/12/27/ipod-express-concept-gets-mixed-grade/

plus they get to keep the customers' email for future junk mail purposes.

I love the email receipt idea as I am keeping increasing numbers of receipts in PDF form.

"plus the get to keep the customers' email for future junk mail purposes."

I have been a mac customer, personally, for over 3 years and professionally for over 10 (run a computer lab). Out of all the junk mail and email I have NEVER received one from Apple that I can remember. I know I have received some from Dell, and should other retailers adopt this I would be suspect, just not from Apple.

I don't live near an Apple store but I still wanted to get an iPod nano for my daughter. All the local and non-local stores were sold out. I placed an order online with Apple on the evening of 12/17 (sat) and I asked to have it laser engraved. On Sunday I got a notification that my order was complete and it shipped. On Monday I looked at the tracking information and it showed it was leaving China on that day. I got it that Wednesday (21st). I am impressed.

Apple Will Continue Using Portable Check-Out Devices
Peter Burrows at BusinessWeek online has an Apple source who says the company has declared the Symbol portable computers a success, and stores will continue to use them for quick customer check-out after the holiday buying season. The devices were introduced to help handle the holiday buying crush, but experienced occasional glitches in reading ATM and credit cards, or would crash. Read Steve Jobs’ take on e-mail receipts and Burrows’ other information, or my earlier evaluation of the iPod Express program.
[Dec 29, 2005]

I also stopped by an Apple store at the Roosevelt Field mall on Long Island on Dec 24 to buy a game for my daughter. There were two lines - one just for iPods and one for everything else. The lines were long. An employee walked up to us with a machine around his neck and was able to check us out right there because we agreed to pay with a credit card (I would have preferred to pay cash, but I used the credit card to save time). However, I did get a paper receipt and pretty much immediately. He had to walk back to the front to put our game into a bag and get our receipt. We waited there in line for maybe two minutes and left with both. He didn't ask for my email address.

It seemed to me like a very reasonable, but temporary measure that they employed in order to counter the fact that they had hundreds of people in line (literally).

The new Apple System does not require that you use a signature to complete the credit transaction? That's a lot of liability to carry on their part since a fraudulently used card without a signature will be their responsibility, and not the card issuer's.

There are things that prevent widespread adoption of the EasyPay system. First, they only accept credit/debit cards. Many people still pay in cash and some via check. Sometimes, people don't want to give Apple their email addresses because they think they will be bombarded by Apple spam. When you give them your email address at EasyPay, there is an option to sign you up for the occasional Apple email and that is usually set to 'no.' Even if they do get you on their list, it would be extremely easy to get off it.

The Apple store near me was using these Symbol devices back in early November. I was buying some accessories and a sales girl came up to me, and asked if I was paying by CC. There were only 2 people on line. I suppose they were testing the system at that point. Frankly, I like it. It was quick and painless!

I used this system at an Apple Store shortly before Christmas. The sales clerk was clearly frustrated with the Symbol device. It ran a version of Windows (he wasn't sure if it was CE or Mobile and was too busy to show me). He reported that the device was crashing every 3rd customer or so. This may have been an isolated, buggy device.

The only other issue I noted was the time spent spelling out email addresses. Mine is fairly long (30+ characters), and a simple LCD/keyboard device would have saved the clerk a lot of time spent confirming the spelling of addresses.

I had the same positive experience when purchasing products on Black Friday, when Apple had the one day sale. Except, I wasn't buying an iPod. I was purchasing some Creature II speakers and a Griffin SmartDeck. The Apple employee who had been helping me out on the floor had the same handheld device, and checked me out in under a minute. It was great.

Pretty insecure way to purchase right? No code entered and no signature, or did I miss that? Plus no paper receipt in my state wouldn't be legal.

Argh another apple "invents" something that's existed for years article.

I've had the opposite experience, I get the occasional spam from Apple (once a month) and sometimes will get double.

However I've been working with dell for years and I'm sure they have at least 5 of my different work and personal email addresses and not once have I ever gotten anything from Dell.

I don't mind the email from Apple....but they do use their mailing lists.

I'm not so sure I like the lack of hardcopy receipts - it just seems uneccessary. What if my email is down, or it doesn't arrive for whatever reason?

And really, it doesn't take that long to print out a tiny piece of paper verifying the purchase. 10-15 seconds?

As previously noted, wireless card scanners are old news...

I'll second that. I've seen Apple twist and shift for over 20 years under the competing pressures of Marketing and Engineering, but they have yet to sacrifice the hallowed customer experience on the altar of quick-fix spamming.

How does this speed anything up? It takes all of 3 seconds for a receipt to print out. Another 3 to sign. Another 2 to fold it in your pocket. You save a whole 8 seconds...WOOOWWWW..so revolutionary...NOT! So basically, all Apple did was add a couple of new credit card only, no printout cash registers to their store during busy season. Wow...I'm so excited, my life is going to change with the 8 seconds I saved from not waiting for a receipt to printout. Gotta love all you Apple fanboys!

I too have never received junk mail from Apple. They only send me email based on lists that I've subscribed to.

I've never gotten any spam from Apple either. It's been at least five years since I registered with them.

Way outta line, kmac. Apple NEVER sends unsolicited email.

I'm thinking this has got to be easy to hack. Expensive, perhaps to purchase Symbol equipment capable of receiving the signals, but I'd hazard a guess your card number flies around the store unencrypted...

Your expirence with the express table must have been different from mine. I waited in line for over 30 minutes with just 6 people in front of me and then was informed that I was also able to purchase iPods at the regular registers at the rear of the store, after a lengthy wait for some customer who's credit card was declined. I was not the only person upset by the fact that we were told to line up for the iPods there. After the sale my thought as to why they sent people to the express table was to push sales of their Apple care product. This was my worst customer expirence during the christmas shopping season, and would never go back to an Apple retail store again.

I concur with "macnews". I get plenty from Dell from one stinky computer I bought years ago. I have yet to get one single junk mail from Apple over the years I have been a customer, registered user and member in its various forums -- something other companies can clearly learn from Apple as well.

I have two thoughts on this:

1) How will apple avoid chargebacks. Generally in a card present transaction no signature equates to no authorized transaction and the customer could easily dispute the payment with their issuing bank and get their money back. I'm sure Apple must use one of the larger acquiring institutions that is on both Visa and MasterCard's board. This could be a pilot project that has not made its way down to smaller acquiring institutions. Everyone has the ability to do "receiptless" transactions for values under $25.

2) I would figure with a high ticket item like an iPod Apple would want to push pin driven debit. Signature based transactions (i.e. no pin) generally involve a discount rate based fee (varying between 1.8% and 4% depending on ticket size, merchant volume, credit card type and merchant industry). Pin driven debit transactions generally only incur a flat fee somewhere in the neighborhood of $0.50.

I would love to know how they are dealing with these issues.

nice idea, but needs work for security reasons. What is on the email they send you? Most likely at least one or two things you may not want others to know about (your account number for apple for example, name, etc). Unless it is encrypted email or something I can only read and print from apple.com securely, I would not want them to send me purchase info via email or other webmethods.

I cant wait for the day when I can just walk in to an Apple store with Chippy in my wallet, grab some software which is also marked with Chippy and walk out the front Chippy-reading doors knowing that a charge to my account was successful and a receipt will arrive in my email just before I get home.

I have never received a single piece of Apple Junk mail in the last 15 years! This includes my time on eWorld. (now that's old)

Bestbuys in most larger,more tech savvy cities does this every Tuesday when DVDs comes out.

At least for the past 2 years I have picked up several new release DVDs every Tuesday, and paid for them at a mobile/wireless register by the DVD section. I'm in and out with my DVDs in under 5 minutes... of which only 1 (on a bad day) is spent waiting for my card to be charged, receipt printed, and signed.

The only catch, you don't get a plastic bag to put your DVDs in. But then again, if you ask for one, within 15 seconds you have one.

I agree... Apple just did whats already been done, but because its Apple its seen as innovation. *yawn*

I love Apple, but lately I keep wondering if Steve Jobs is just Bill Gates in a very well made costume.

I have received unsolicited mail from Apple before (and I know for a fact that I have never registered at any apple.com site with the address they were using). I tried to unsubscribe using their process for about a week, to no avail. It took two e-mails to postmaster - one threatening to report their messages as spam to their upstream ISP - before the messages stopped.

In their defense, once they finally got their act together, I haven't received another message since.

Concerning Security:

I would hazard a guess that this system is safer than most systems you entrust your card number to. Having been implemented in 2005 it is more likely than not compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. I doubt your CC# is lying around unencrypted or broadcast through the air without at least WPA if not SSL or IPSEC inside WPA. It would not suprise me if the WinCE powered symbol devices were making direct SSL connections to Apple's Visa/MasterCard Acquiring Institution's SSL payment gateway.

In my experience if data is going to be breached it will happen where you least expect it(Pay at the Pump Gas Stations) or where you don't even know it goes (CardSystems Solutions).

You don't even want to know what the small to medium size businesses are doing with your data. If you are allowing a small business to charge you credit card in a recurring fashion (say monthly) more likely than not they have your CC#, CVV2/CVC2 3-Digit Code, Expiration Date and Address stored in plain text on an unpatched windows box that may or may not be behind a firewall with a user that has administrator priveleges. Really.

Don't get me started on small business e-commerce.

The thing is when the small buisnesses have 14 or even 400 account numbers stolen you don't here about it unless your card has to be reissued. It happens everyday.

I bet that it would be a safe assumption that the process is siiliar to the web checkout for the apple store. I doubt that your email address is rolling around the store unencrypted, let alone your credit card information, which is most likely secured behind Apple's firewalls. All the prefrences are online at the Apple store, which you already have set up because you have an Apple store account. Just a thought for some of the complaints.

Why didn't they just do the normal thing and set up a couple temporary cash registers on little tables?

They could have set up each store with an "online store" where they could just buy the thing online and pick up their iPod at an express counter. (The counterperson would have a printer with a stack of receipts/orders.)

Those wireless credit card gizmos are in use all over the UK, in restaurants especially. No need to have your card leave your side or to leave your table to pay elsewhere: the waiter brings the gizmo to you, scans it, tears off the receipt, you sign it, and you're done. Apple has clearly taken that one step further, but typically for Apple it's not that they've invented a new technology; instead, they've invented a new, better way of using existing technology, and that's a business that is very sustainable.

The mobile device is a Symbol PPT8846

"the busy but uncrowded feel that Apple stores seem to usually have"

- You should try shopping at the Ginza Apple Store in Tokyo.

I thought it was pretty ironic that those little handhelds run Windows CE.

This is Apple's genius; they do something a little different from the rest of the players, and this apparently small change has massively large implications.

And as soon as everyone else see's it - it's obvious, blindingly obvious in fact. But Apple did it first.

The mark of a true industry leader.

Using the express line to buy my Nano was fast and I didn't have to wait in the normal line which was snaking around the store. I could even imagine Apple opening stand alone iPod stores or even kiosks in the future.

The above comments about security are correct. For "Rick" who thinks that receipts and signing your name to a piece of paper is security... WAKE UP. seriously.

1) Your signature = nothing. Try signing "I don't approve" as your signature instead of your real name, see what happens. Absolutely nothing. It doesn't matter what you right? Ever see the cashier go... "uh sir i don't recognize this as your handwriting..." It's better that there is no handwriting it means, crooks can't imitate your signature if they steal data from apple meaning, that visa would know if somebody swiped your data, and went to target to buy stuff because the signature would be a dead give away when looking for fraud.

2) Apple's security cameras record every transaction in the store. If you called up and canceled your 4k computer system with Visa, Apple has proof of the transaction.

3) Apple also keeps records of your transactions in a history form, so if you bought online, ever they will bring it up and show visa.

4) Don't under estimate Apple's security. It's very, very good

5) Everywhere in Europe they use the wireless kiosks like this, only in the USA is everything backwards like this.

Jeff and several others are missing the point. The time saver is not the lack of printing a reciept. It's having roving cashiers that are pulling people out of the line who are paying with credit card, speeding up the process for everyone, even those who are waiting for the normal registers. If used well, it turns a 40+ person line into a five minute wait. I got to see quite a lot of it this season and most of the others in the store were just as impressed as me.

I bought an IBook 12" G4 on Black Friday at the Towson Mall Apple Store in Maryland. Some thoughts [on why] I became interested in MAC after
a. I killed my iPOD Shuffle. After logging in a trouble call online, I had the (free) replacement overnighted in 24 hours.
b. My friend got a virus on my Windows Laptop--Norton detected but could not fix. Two nights up late to remove most of it.
2. Store experience:
a. Many store workers in red tee shirts, looked very inexperienced.
b. Took just a minute to get one of them to help me select my computer and get one out of stock
c. No wireless c.c. devices; it was a 15 minute wait to pay.
d. I wouldn't be worried about their c.c security, N.B. the above comment that smaller biz have the greatest risk.
3. I am delighted with my MAC. Only misgiving, is that there is no PC card slot, and I'm interested in Verizon Wireless Access. They can be had on the larger notebooks, but I want the small screen.
4. PC friends urged me to take my machine back. I called a former Apple Store employee and owner; he convinced me to keep it. I got my 1 year old Toshiba back from the repair shop ($300 to replace the power jack, one month out of warranty). It seems like a big old clunker compared to the IBook.
5. I returned to the Apple Store, a much slower day, to buy a sleeve. Still the inexperienced workers. Shoppers had many questions how to migrate from Windoze (to use the BBS spelling from Win 2.0 days). The red shirt people were just telling them "Oh, I'm not certified on that."