As Apple evolved their music player into a phone and their music store into a media/software store, they have an astronomical opportunity to adapt iTunes into a generalized payment platform for real world goods.
You could buy stuff on the spot with your iPhone/iTouch or browse and pay ahead of time and pick it up later. Brick and mortar shops would be quick to support "iPay" to bring in the iPhone clientele (for the same reason they currently accept credit cards), and the timing is right: Apple could kick the banks/credit card companies in the nuts when they're down (look at AmEx...), charging a lower rate and alleviating some of the hassles of synchronous transactions. All a shop would need is the computer they already own and some merchant software.
Why would they beat PayPal or Amazon Payments (TextPayMe)? Because those guys just provide an abstraction above a bank account or credit card. With iTunes, you pay upfront, in cash, at the gas station down the street. No bills. It's not like this would apply to all purchases, obviously, but certainly stuff <$100... And Apple has a popular UI that really doesn't have to be constrained to music, movies, and software. Just because I can't download a pizza on iTunes doesn't mean I couldn't select and purchase one.
Now, given regulatory issues they'd almost certainly have to partner with an established player (like their deal with AT&T), but, again, they've got a golden opportunity with the state of banks right now.
Am I missing some obvious reason this wouldn't work? This seems to me right now about as likely as the iPhone did in 2006...
As Apple evolved their music player into a phone and their music store into a media/software store, they have an astronomical opportunity to adapt iTunes into a generalized payment platform for real world goods.
You could buy stuff on the spot with your iPhone/iTouch or browse and pay ahead of time and pick it up later. Brick and mortar shops would be quick to support "iPay" to bring in the iPhone clientele (for the same reason they currently accept credit cards), and the timing is right: Apple could kick the banks/credit card companies in the nuts when they're down (look at AmEx...), charging a lower rate and alleviating some of the hassles of synchronous transactions. All a shop would need is the computer they already own and some merchant software.
Why would they beat PayPal or Amazon Payments (TextPayMe)? Because those guys just provide an abstraction above a bank account or credit card. With iTunes, you pay upfront, in cash, at the gas station down the street. No bills. It's not like this would apply to all purchases, obviously, but certainly stuff <$100... And Apple has a popular UI that really doesn't have to be constrained to music, movies, and software. Just because I can't download a pizza on iTunes doesn't mean I couldn't select and purchase one.
Now, given regulatory issues they'd almost certainly have to partner with an established player (like their deal with AT&T), but, again, they've got a golden opportunity with the state of banks right now.
Am I missing some obvious reason this wouldn't work? This seems to me right now about as likely as the iPhone did in 2006...