Several years ago, Apple’s retail stores transitioned away from “classic” registers (iMacs hooked to cash drawers) to hand-held, credit/debit-only systems called “EasyPay.” The system runs on Windows Mobile on Symbol-built devices. When it was first released it was buggy as hell, but over the last two years, it has become more stable as Apple has pushed the technology harder and harder, but the platform leaves a lot to be desired, especially in older and busier stores.
When the iPhone was first released, all of us who were Apple retail employees at the time joked that an iPhone would make a much better point of sale system than the EasyPay system. Of course, we thought an iPhone would be less embarrassing then pulling a Windows Mobile-based system out to ring out a customer. As Apple Insider points out, this may be coming true soon:
While Apple could build its own point of sale (POS) system from scratch based on the iPhone’s technology, doing so would be an expensive undertaking just for the couple dozen devices needed by each of the 225 retail stores. It would also result in a completely proprietary system that the company probably couldn’t successfully sell outside of a narrow niche of retail stores with similar needs. Devices like the EasyPay are open enough to allow for a wide variety of customization using Microsoft’s Windows Mobile software, even if the tools and the underlying software aren’t that reliable or desirable. That specialized market isn’t enormous, so it would be difficult for Apple to justify trying to compete with its own iPhone-based POS device.
Instead of introducing a dedicated POS 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.
I bet iPhones (or more likely iPod Touches) show up in the hands of Apple Store employees sometime in the next year for POS systems.