Overview of Apple's New iPod Touch-Based EasyPay Retail Store Checkout System

[MattInOz]

Meaning, how many businesses would want and use this? Don't know but I do know the company I work for has been hoping for exactly this. Hopefully a version of this will become available to us soon.

Not to mention every trades man who works out and about with customers wants the iPhone version. Getting people to swipe a credit card there and then is the easyist way to decrease your outstanding invoices.

Thinking Apple is working with a Third party on this one it will be the value adding reseller that offers the product to a general market.

 

[kdarling]

B) The OEM of the cradle is someone we know already and they plan to offer it on their own. It wouldn't surprise me if Symbol makes it...

Could be.

In the same way that Apple sucks up flash memory supplies, Symbol and Intermec suck up laser scanner heads.

(I've got a bunch of Symbol and other rugged devices around my lab here... including a specially made CDMA Intermec handheld, which showed me that making a CDMA version of a normally GSM device wasn't that hard.)

 

[mrzippy]

I agree. But I also don't sign my cards; I make them check my ID.

LOL

So when they are stolen the thief can sign them!

 

[mrzippy]

As someone else said I image they will have different ones for the European market, where all credit / debit cards are chip & pin.

The current handheld device used in the UK does chip & pin.

Neil

 

[MattInOz]

As someone else said I image they will have different ones for the European market, where all credit / debit cards are chip & pin.

The current handheld device used in the UK does chip & pin.

Neil

There could even be enough room for the chip reader to be in the strip reader but you insert the card perpendicular into a deeper recess you can't see from these photo's. Or that version will only used in markets with mixed usage.

 

[cmwade77]

finally a stylus.

i hope they become available and will be supported in apps for consumers as well!

There are numerous styluses available for the iPod Touch and iPhone, such as this one:
http://www.budgetgadgets.com/stylus-touch-ipod-touchiphone-p-1653.html

There are many more out there as well.

 

[lozanoj83]

Don't pander to me, kid. One tiny oversight on an acronym and your blood boils in 13 seconds. Solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seats! And just wait till you're sitting pretty with a case of Andorian acronyms. See if you're still so relaxed when you're brain is exploding!!

Acronyms are disease and danger, wrapped in darkness and silence!!!!

Oh Bones... lol

 

[casjohnr]

Any reason they picked Touches over iPhones? Just thought it would be useful if the employees had a phone built in so they could phone the other stores etc

Maybe in version 2.0 customers will be able to pick from a wide range of music to listen to while making their purchase

 

[The Samurai]

Nifty, but how many vendors would really be on board for this?

All Apple stores will have to comply with the new Touch pay devices. Third party companies won't be obliged to use this new Touch device.

Looks pretty nice though, current system can take long to process payments. Speed bump is always welcome

 

[tmofee]

people still sign at the moment, yes, but this will go in a few years. The new EMV cards have the option and by 2012 (in australia anyway) all credit cards (and then debit) will be EMV (chip) whether you like it or not and signatures will no longer be available. You wait - maybe not this time, but the next time you get a new credit card in a few years, it won't even have a magnetic strip anymore...

 

[Detlev_73]

I agree. But I also don't sign my cards; I make them check my ID.

It's not my intention to be rude, far from it, but I've always wondered how banks allow customers that DON'T sign their cards to make transactions with their cards. I'm not a lawyer, but the way I see it (I've been told by many attorneys with whom I come in contact throughout the years that I'd ace law school [not a self-serving]) all the credit cards I have owned have stated, albeit in their fine print, that the credit agreement is only valid if the customer signs his/her card. Without that, the bank/credit card company can argue in court that the purchase was transacted outside of a legally binding consumer agreement, and so the transaction is invalid and fraudulent.

Besides, if one DOESN'T sign his/her credit card, what prevents a credit card thief from signing his/her own name and having a fake ID made, then using both to make the purchase? What are your thoughts?

 

[aristobrat]

Here are VISA's stated instructions on how merchants should handle a card that is not signed, or a card that is signed "SEE ID".

It was cut 'n pasted from their PDF, sorry about the formatting.

PDF is here:
http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/rules_for_visa_merchants.pdf

While checking card security features, you should also make sure that the card is signed . An unsigned card is considered invalid and should not be accepted . If a customer gives you an unsigned card, the following steps must be taken:

• Check the cardholder’s ID . Ask the cardholder for some form of official government identification, such as a driver’s license or passport . Where permissible by law, the ID serial number and expiration date should be written on the sales receipt before you complete the transaction .

• Ask the customer to sign the card . The card should be signed within your full view, and the signature checked against the customer’s signature on the ID . A refusal to sign means the card is still invalid and cannot be accepted . Ask the customer for another signed Visa card .

• Compare the signature on the card to the signature on the ID .
If the cardholder refuses to sign the card, and you accept it, you may end up with financial liability for the transaction should the cardholder later dispute the charge .

Some customers write “See ID” or “Ask for ID” in the signature panel, thinking that this is a deterrent against fraud or forgery; that is, if their signature is not on the card, a fraudster will not be able to forge it . In reality, criminals don’t take the time to practice signatures: they use cards as quickly as possible after a theft and prior to the accounts being blocked . They are actually counting on you not to look at the back of the card and compare signatures—they may even have access to counterfeit identification with a signature in their own handwriting.

“See ID” or “Ask for ID” is not a valid substitute for a signature . The customer must sign the card in your presence, as stated above .

When should you ask a cardholder for an official government ID? although Visa rules do not preclude merchants from asking for cardholder ID, merchants cannot make an ID a condition of acceptance . Therefore, merchants cannot refuse to complete a purchase transaction because a cardholder refuses to provide ID . Visa believes merchants should not ask for ID as part of their regular card acceptance procedures . Laws in several states also make it illegal for merchants to write a cardholder’s personal information, such as an address or phone number, on a sales receipt.

 

[scottness]

Agreed. Why not machined aluminum?

I wonder if Apple will consider marketing this system to other businesses?

That'd be nice. I know a few people who would be interested.

 

[Singin Hobo]

Wow, this is long over-due... those clunkers they've been using are a pain.

I too am on board for a version of this offered to small business customers on the iPhone. It's an awesome looking device.

 

[Stately]

Good Stuff . . Now watch Microsoft try to turn their zune into one.

 

[aristobrat]

Good Stuff . . Now watch Microsoft try to turn their zune into one.

Microsoft Employee to Customer: Would you like me to print you a receipt, or squirt™ you one?

 

[macshill]

Good Stuff . . Now watch Microsoft try to turn their zune into one.

Fanboy statement enough?

Says the guy who knocks a company that uses the competitor's UI (Microsoft) in their retail stores until just recently and that they copied from Gateway model (1st to have retail stores). Nice. Where exactly does the hypocrisy end w/ you guys? lol I'd love to know.

Be nice to know that Zune HD as POS would be sportin' a better (read: OLED) screeen for starters.

 

[rowanmwilliams]

I would love to see this down here in Aus. I know just how annoying these symbol devices can be . I use them constantly at my work, however, not in a POS form, the program is identical without the checkout features.

But as many of the people from the UK have stated the chip reader is a necessity. If your card has a chip in it, the chip must be used. You CAN NOT swipe and sign. So yet another region Apple would have to change the design of this device for.

The only card i know that has not yet used the chip/pin is the Amex cards. I remember many ads a few years ago saying they were the most secure cards.

On that note, In Australia ANY CC purchase must be signed for. Not matter how big or how small.

Rowan.

 

[dejo]

...they copied from Gateway model (1st to have retail stores).

I believe you'll find that retail stores had been around for a long, long time before Gateway's came along.

 

[macshill]

I believe you'll find that retail stores had been around for a long, long time before Gateway's came along.

Then these fanboys need to shutup before McDonald's opens up a new restaurant and one of them says those dreaded words and embarrasses themselves: "Come up w/ your own idea and stop copying ours (our beloved Puritan Apple)."

"That famous Fotomat" raised yellow roof? Copied it straight from Apple. Yep." (That air you're breathing? Apple thought of it first.) lol

 

[imgmkr]

Stylus? I thought the touchscreen wouldn't work with a stylus.

that would for the getting the signature of purchases?
if you try sign it with a finger, it turns out not as good

 

[OS X Fan]

Looks very interesting

Can't believe that Apple has been using Windows in the AppleStore. This device looks awesome and I hope the general public can purchase at some point.

The swiper, infrared, extra battery, and usb for charging -all so nice!

I was pointed to another swiper this week (not nearly as nice as what Apple has), although this product doesn't seem like it is available yet and a bunch of their links on their webpage are broken:
http://simplyswipeit.com/

 

[firewood]

Stylus? I thought the touchscreen wouldn't work with a stylus.

It won't.

At least not with a generic stylus, any PalmPilot stylus, anything pen-like, or anything with a point.

I have one of these Pogo thingies.. Ugly looking, but usable. It's a bland metal tube, with an even fatter and slightly squishy conductive tip. It works by emulating the capacitive size and electric field of a regular size human finger.

At least the Pogo doesn't look like a bloody severed human finger. ( Although that would have been a great iPhone prop on Halloween! )

 

[synth3tik]

Ay first I was thinking good, nothing can be worse then using windows CE, or swhall I say using a portable dreamcast or something as a POS. However reading more and more I'm starting to see that emmm, maybe not such a great thing. being a total touch interface I see it being a little tricky to use as a POS, and requiring debit customers to use 2 different POS systems (Unless there smart and just go right up to the counter). Oh, yeah, I will not enter in my pin number on am not bank ATM anything.

At least they are trying to use Newtons.

 

[kornyboy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

This needed to happen a long time ago.