“Multiple sources have noted that Apple will be transitioning its retail store EasyPay handheld checkout systems from Windows-based PDA devices to iPod touch hardware for the 2009 holiday season,” Prince McLean reports for AppleInsider. “Tipsters have all confirmed that Apple is already in the final stages of rolling out new EasyPay terminals based on the iPod touch combined with a credit card reader and barcode scanner.”
“One reader reported that the new devices are already being used to ring up sales at Apple’s Valley Fair Mall store in Santa Clara, California, the closest retail outlet to the company’s corporate headquarters in Cupertino,” McLean reports. “‘These things look really cool, much smaller than the Windows-based ones and faster too. They seem to be running a trial at that store, Palo [Alto] did not have them,’ the reader said.”
McLean reports, “Developing a custom solution based on the iPhone would have been an expensive project just to create a dozen or two devices for each of the company’s 225 retail stores. However, with the move to iPhone 3.0 and third party support for point of sale software and devices, there’s now little reason for Apple to stick with its slow, problematic Windows CE devices, which retail employees reported little satisfaction in using.”
McLean reports, “Like other Windows Mobile/Pocket PC devices, the EasyPay systems require a stylus to operate, they look clunky, and they’re susceptible to crashing or losing WiFi connectivity, all of which impact Apple’s ability to do business in a professional manner. Problems with EasyPay systems were blamed for helping to create long lines at the launch of the iPhone 3G last year.”
Read more in the full article here.
Great! My purchasing just got snappier!
It was just the matter of time. Once hardware APIs were open, it became much easier to build an attachable portable barcode scanner / credit card reader / thermal printer. I’m sure the same hardware company that had been building WinCE solutions has just re-worked their hardware to connect via dock connector, and software should have been easy to whip up (or port).
Hopefully, others will follow, once they see the reliability and coolness of these devices.
Windows in an Apple store oh dear oh dear!!
I hear Microsoft is eager to adopt these for its new retail stores. After all, they’re copying everything else!
“I’m sure the same hardware company that had been building WinCE solutions has just re-worked their hardware to connect via dock connector, and software should have been easy to whip up (or port).”
Um. No. Eww.
This must be a total custom re-write designed for mobile OS X. Even the hardware I doubt is Symbol anymore. We’ll see soon. We’ll soon see. Whichever.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
iPod touch? barcode scanner? I thought that required a camera.
@imageone
No, they designed a device with a laser wedge and card reader that has a dock on it. The iPod Touch simply slides into the dock to complete the device.
I was wondering when they would get that embarrassing bit fixed.
> iPod touch? barcode scanner? I thought that required a camera.
There is probably some device designed for scanning bar codes and swiping credit cards attached to the Dock connector.
See how that Monopoly even forces Apple to use Windows based systems? Thats the power of Microsoft and why they can blow wads of money on products for years and years…
OMG OMG OMG!
They have iPod touches for signing in for Genius appointments at the Apple Store in Vancouver, BC. I got confused because I was used to seeing a sign-in iMac. Instead, I was greeted by an Apple employee poking away at an iPod touch.
Windows market share drops again!
The Apple store in the Scottsdale Quarter is still using the old-style ringer-uppers, as of today.
“the EasyPay systems require a stylus to operate, they look clunky, and they’re susceptible to crashing or losing WiFi connectivity,”
So the iPod doesn’t crash or lose WiFi connectivity?
Come on, anybody who’s used one of these devices for more than 5 minutes knows that’s just Apple FUD.
About freakin’ time! Those Windows EasyPay systems looked like Maxwell Smart’s shoe phone. They really had no place in an Apple store.
@me
Clueless Windows drone. Your the one spouting FUD. IPod Touch and iPhones have rock solid wifi connectivity. Run back to Ballmer and get your second heaping of Windows Anal treatments.
Yeah, you’re right. The new Easy Pay units aren’t better than the old ones. That’s why Apple’s switching to them.
Uh…
I’ve only mad purchases at an Apple store three times. One of those times, the handheld device the clerk was using froze up during the transaction.
See how that Monopoly even forces Apple to use Windows based systems?
Not anymore, we don’t.
-jcr
“Yeah, you’re right. The new Easy Pay units aren’t better than the old ones. That’s why Apple’s switching to them.
Uh…”
I’d agree with you if ANY other large retailer was using Ipods. It’s the same reason that Apple is the ONLY large company that uses Apple PCs.
Uh… idiot.
The switchover is LONG overdue.
It’ll be interesting to see if Apple’s “custom” in-house solution is sold to other companies and retailers. That’ll be a stealth marketing!
Don’t feed the troll…
No other large retailers use Easy Pay. I think that might have something to do with why they aren’t using iPods with their Easy Pay system.
So do you have a point? Somewhere?
@me
g’head, admit it you’ve never used an iPod Touch have you?
Trolls like you wouldn’t spend that kind of money for a hand-held. Not when you could buy a brand new computer, including monitor for another hundred bucks.