The holidays will soon be upon us, and with them will come the inevitable clogging of our nation’s retail arteries. How fortunate then that Apple has just released an update to their Apple Store app that allows customers to streamline their shopping experience.
Next time you walk into an Apple Store with the app in tow, you’ll be able to bypass all that “human interaction” nonsense by using the app’s new EasyPay feature. Users with an iPhone 4 or 4S can scan the barcode on a number of accessories to pay for the product with the credit card connected with their Apple ID. The receipts are generated and stored in the app, so even the most nitpicky security guards shouldn’t offer much of a struggle as people waltz out the door.
The app also packs support for Apple’s Personal Pickup, with which users can order a product from a certain Apple store from within the app and pick up it later. The turnaround time from order placement to pickup can be as little as an hour, but we’ll soon see how well this claim holds up once shopping season kicks into high gear. If you happen to be a bit pickier than some and want a product that isn’t currently available, you’ll be given a rough estimate as to how long you’ll have to wait.
Not all of the additions are quite as flashy: there’s a new menu dedicated to tracking orders, which customers in Canada and China can also take advantage of. As long as you’ve got a device running iOS 4.2 or later you should be golden, but iPad users should be aware that the app isn’t optimized for all that extra screen space.