Good news for those of you ready to lay down your hard earned cash for a new iPad at your local Apple store. With the help of 7 on Your Side and Dianne Campbell, Apple has overturned their credit and debit card only policy and you are now able to make your iPad purchase with [...]
Apple changes policy, now accepts cash for iPads is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
Filed under: iPad
Good news, everyone! In response to the public outcry over Apple’s no-cash-for-iPad policy, Apple has relented. You will now be able to purchase iPads in-store using cash and gift cards. Yes, you’ll also have to set up a traceable Apple account at the same time, but the lack of credit or debit card will no longer bar the sale of iPads to consumers.
Apple’s controversial (although not illegal in most states) no-cash policy for the iPad was introduced to limit gray-market iPad redistribution. The demand for iPads remains high world-wide, and as the eBay iPad site shows, there’s money to be made for anyone willing to part with their new electronic friend. It’s kind of like Terry Pratchett’s notion of “negotiable affection.” Sure, you love the iPad — but there’s no question that it’s profitable to share that love with others.
Under Apple’s new rules, you will still be limited to two-device-purchases per user. You’ll be able to pay for those two devices using an expanded payment vocabulary, but Apple intends to firmly enforce its existing allocation control measures. So Apple will ban any customer it finds purchasing too many iPads — even if you are picking that extra one up for a colleague or a gift.
Thanks, Sara Bueno
TUAWApple relents, allows cash for iPads originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 19 May 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Unofficial Apple Weblog – Apple – IPad – Debit card – Terry Pratchett
Filed under: iPad
Update: Apple has now reversed the no-cash policy.
As loyal readers know, Apple stores are not particularly cash-friendly; in the case of the iPhone and the iPad, they’re downright cash-hostile. Both devices require a credit or debit card for purchase, although you can waltz down the block and buy an iPad with cash at Best Buy if you like (and you can use a gift card for iPhone, but not for iPad).
There are some points on Apple’s side for the pay-with-plastic requirement (the primary one being that it’s hard to enforce the two-per-person purchase limit without some way to track buyers), but it’s clear that the rule is a source of annoyance to some potential customers. Now the annoyance is getting magnified.
In a post that is destined to be enshrined under the Wikipedia entry for “irate screed,” David Gewirtz at ZDnet reacts to this KGO-TV story about Diane Campbell, a Palo Alto woman who tried (and failed) to buy herself an iPad using good old greenbacks. And when I say Gewirtz reacts, I mean he absolutely goes medieval about this “outrageous” miscarriage of justice.
TUAWApple no-cash policy for iPad takes some by surprise originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 18 May 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Software
Here’s an interesting take from Searchblog’s John Battelle about the Siri purchase by Apple yesterday: he believes that it’s the first step towards the eventual Apple goal of conquering search for the app world. Google is, of course, the king of search on the Internet, but as the iPad 3G releases today, we’re spending less and less of our time on these devices actually browsing the web, and more and more of it inside of apps. That’s where search needs to go, says Battelle, and Siri could help exactly that happen for Apple.
In other words, he gives the example of searching for a phrase like “Chicago rental car” in Siri, and properly configured, Apple’s Siri could say back to the user, says Battelle, “Hey, you know what? You don’t need to rent a car. You can use the Chicago Transit. Here’s an app for it. You can get from the airport to everywhere you want to go without having to rent a car. Plus, you’ll save $150 which we know is a goal of yours because you’ve been interacting with the Mint application,” and so on. Siri would become a voice-activated search assistant, not for the Internet at large necessarily, but for all of the apps and functionality on your iPhone or iPad.
It’s certainly possible, although Apple has so much cash saved up right now that they don’t really need good, focused reasons like that to pick up a strong piece of tech like Siri. But yes, Battelle’s guess makes sense, especially considering the increased amount of time that people are spending in apps versus the browser on the iPad.
TUAWWas the Siri purchase about search? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 01 May 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Siri – Apple – Google – Unofficial Apple Weblog – iPhone
Filed under: App Review
Never before in human history have there been so many ways to part with your hard-earned cash. The spotlight might be on credit card acceptance tools from Square & Verisign, or the beta Venmo service’s SMS-based trust network — still, don’t forget about the cagey veteran. Paypal is 12 years old now (and in Internet years, that’s… uh… “wicked old”) but the eBay-owned payment site is innovating as fast as ever; case in point, the 2.0 version of the free Paypal iPhone app.
The new app features a revamped interface and history display, along with options for payment reminders, funds withdrawals and a new “Request Money” tool. You can create and send a fund request within the app at the moment you need it (just spotted your pal $20 for the movies? Bingo!), which makes it that much more likely that you’ll get reimbursed. In like fashion, you can collect money for a shared gift or charitable donation, or split a restaurant check and send off requests for everyone’s share of the bill.
If that’s not futuristic enough for you, the Paypal app now integrates with contact sharer Bump, which added Facebook friending and more granular profile-based sharing in a new release at the end of February (most requested new feature: a ‘fake’ profile, allowing you to give that overeager Bump-er at the bar a bogus number if you’re just not that into them). Using the Bump API, Paypal’s app now allows you to send money to another Bump user just by tapping phones. I anticipate strong enthusiasm for this feature at sporting events and casinos.
Paypal’s apps for the Blackberry and Android are scheduled to get some of the new features soon, but in the meantime these are iPhone-only goodies. Enjoy!
Gallery: Paypal iPhone App 2.0
[h/t TechCrunch]
TUAWPaypal app goes 2.0, adds Bump integration originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Unofficial Apple Weblog – Apple – iPhone 3G – Facebook – Android
Filed under: Hardware, Software, iPhone, App Store
Adafruit is one of a few companies that has been chosen to test the Square dongle that automagically takes credit card payments on any iPhone. Even though we got to see it in action at Macworld, I think every look we can get at this thing is worth it, considering just how darn revolutionary it seems. The video on Flickr shows just how quick and easy it is — just swipe the card, and sign with your finger on the iPhone’s screen.
I haven’t bothered carrying cash for a few years now, and something like this only makes it easier to not only take payments for vendors, but for me to pay. Hot dog guy needs a few bucks but doesn’t have a landline connection to run a credit card on? No worries, just swipe and done. Want to give to the Salvation Army guy over the holidays but don’t have any money left in the wallet? Just swipe and done. Word has it that the transaction cut will be 2.9% (though the video above shows 3.5% — maybe you can change the percentage depending on circumstances), but odds are that in most cases, the convenience will be well worth it.
The whole program’s still in beta, but it probably won’t be long before you’ll see (and maybe even use) one of these out in the wild.
[Via Engadget]
TUAWAdafruit shows off the Square dongle for credit card payments on the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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iPhone – AppStore – Salvation Army – Flickr – Credit card
Filed under: Apple Financial, Apple
Back during the earnings call a few weeks ago, it was mentioned that Apple has a jaw-dropping almost $40 billion just sitting around in cash. In the chat, we started talking about other companies that might have that much money in the hopper — Google came up, but I don’t think we were able to guess another one. But it turns out Apple isn’t even the most flush company out there, and the name of the first might surprise you: According to this chart on Silicon Alley Insider, Microsoft is currently sitting on just slightly more money than even Apple, with Google and Intel coming close behind; although Apple briefly pulled ahead of MS at the end of 2008, the Redmond Revenue Racers had more cash through most of ’09 than Apple did.
Well how ’bout that. Of course, the current curves are not so favorable to Microsoft (after the Win7 update push slows down a bit) so it may not be long before Apple’s pile grows even bigger. We can probably look for some significant acquisitions from all of these companies very soon — with the rest of the economy down and lots of interesting ideas looking to sell, odds are we’ll see some of this money spent on worthy purchases.
[via Cult of Mac]
TUAWMicrosoft still beats Apple in cash and investments, for now originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple – Microsoft – Google – Cult of Mac – Unofficial Apple Weblog