Looks like the rumors were true and Apple is finally set to replace the aging, WindowsCE + stylus based EasyPay point-of-sale devices used by the retail store staff with sexy new credit card reading, barcode scanning iPod touches. Apple will be using the same accessory access APIs supplied to developers in the iPhone 3.0 SDK.
AppleInsider reports that a trial is now being run at the closest Apple Store to the Cupertino Headquarters, the Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara, but hopefully the rest of Apple Retail will be able to enjoy the cool new gadgets sometime in the near future as well.
IFOAppleStore confirms the switch to iPod touch EasyPay, and adds that Apple will also be ditching the color-coded shirts used to distinguish different types of staff. (Not because Microsoft iCloned them but because they were ultimately more confusing than helpful to customers).
[Small print: The above video is of Apple Store staff cheering for a new store opening, not for their new iPod touch EasyPay systems]
Yeah. Apple Stores use what appear to be Soviet-era Windows CE handsets from Symbol to process credit card transactions on the floor. It’s their secret shame. All that beautiful, elegant, perfectly balanced mobile technology in the iPhone and the iPod touch and their front-facing staff is stuck using devices straight out of 1960s garage sci-fi.
Well, the times they may finally be changing. Apple Insider reports that:
Instead of introducing a dedicated [point of sale] sibling to the iPhone and iPod touch family, Apple instead worked to expand the iPhone platform to suit the needs of developers. With iPhone 3.0, that includes new support for working with peripheral devices over USB through the Dock Connector and wirelessly using Bluetooth.
Seems Apple will be transitioning to an attachment for the iPhone or iPod touch that lets them replace their aging WinCE fleet with their own, homegrown, multi-touch tech. Win/win for both marketing and sales.
The only question left for us is, what to do with all those about-to-be-obsolete WinCE boxes?
