Apple Stores to use new Concierge app for customer check-ins

Apple retail stores will soon launch a new wireless check-in service that will allow employees to manage a queue of customers using a custom iOS app called Concierge, according to a new report.

Mac Stories reports that the new service went live for Apple Store employees on Monday morning. The Concierge app will send a push notification to employees when a customer uses an iOS device to check in to the Apple Store, wrote author Cody Fink.

From the app, employees will be able to monitor an 'iQueue' with a list of currently waiting customers and their respective check-in times. Store managers will also take advantage of a new app called Scout that will allow them to assign room-by-room check-in locations for "accurate, close proximity check-ins." Scout is designed to be a one-use application for "initial set-up of Apple's location based services," the report noted.

Photos obtained by Mac Stories show the rumored Concierge app in action. Although the "iQueue" waiting list image appears to be a mock-up, as the display reads iPod despite clearly having an iPhone 4 body, Fink posted an update clarifying that he received the screenshots without the iPhone 4 frames and "used a utility to wrap these images for presentation." The Concierge application should work on both in-store iPod touch and iPhone devices. Apple currently uses an "EasyPay touch" system in its stores, combining custom software, an iPod touch, a magnetic stripe reader and advanced barcode scanner.




According to the report, Apple will update its Apple Store application to send a push notification as customers enter the store asking them to check in. The app will then notify customers of their position in line and send a photo of the employee who will help them.

Although Mac Stories is unsure exactly when these new features will roll out to customers, the updates will likely come "soon," Fink wrote. According to the report, "Apple Store managers were flown in and treated to the initial location based concept" at a recent conference in Los Angeles, Calif.

Sources told AppleInsider last November that Apple was developing a Concierge application for its retail stores but did not provide a release date for the app.

As Apple continues to innovate with its retail stores, the company's retail strategy remains highly successful, bringing in a record $3.5 billion in sales last quarter, up 75 percent year-over-year. With 317 stores worldwide as of the end of September, average revenue per store for the quarter was $11.8 million, up 52 percent from last year.

"We see great opportunity to continue our retail growth," Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said of the coming fiscal year during the company's fourth fiscal quarter 2010 earnings call last week. Apple expects to open 40 to 50 stores in the next year, with more than half of them overseas.

6 Features Apple MacBooks Should Steal From the iPhone

he iPhone 4 and iPad are no doubt the darlings of Apple's revered product line, dominating media coverage in the past year. As such, both offered unique features that helped them stand out in crowded markets, and in certain cases, redefine their category. Now, as Apple's Back to the Mac event approaches, we've made a list of some of these features that we hope Apple will apply to its latest Apple MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops.

1. Retina Display. The iPhone 4's "Retina Display" is touted as having 4 times as many pixels as its predecessor, and the higher contrast ratio makes anything multimedia pop. Basically, the iPhone 4 ships with a higher resolution on the same screen. Since Apple was able to do it with the iPhone, why not offer a "Retina Display," or a higher screen resolution, with the Apple Macbook and Macbook Pro.

2. Embedded 3G. There are two versions of the Apple iPad: one with Wi-Fi only, the other with a built-in 3G modem. Doing this for a device that's practically a PC should set the precedent for Apple's upcoming laptops, no? Apple should offer embedded 3G in all of its laptops

3. HD Camera Sensor. The iPhone 4 and the latest iPod Touch both come with camera sensors that can shoot video in 720p HD. It's almost laughable that users are watching their glorious high-definition clips on a 3.5-inch screen. If Apple can put these HD sensors in over a billion handhelds, it seems like a MacBook Webcam should be given the same capability to shoot video. HD content, furthermore, can be appreciated on a bigger a screen, or streamed over to an HDTV, via the DisplayPort.

4. Touch Screen. The touch screen is an integral part of the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Though unlikely, Apple could offer a multitouch feature for its laptop displays. It has become increasingly common in Windows-based laptops: The Dell Studio 17 (Multitouch), HP Mini 5103, and numerous convertible tablets offer multitouch displays.

5. FaceTime. The iPhone 4 and iPod Touch offer a software feature called FaceTime, which allows users to video chat using a W-iFi connection. Thing is, both parties must have compatible iPhones or iPod touch devices in order to take advantage of this feature. The rumor is already out that FaceTime is coming to Mac OS 10 or the next version of iLife. This is a no-brainer: It's a simple software installation that will allow users who don't own an iPhone 4, but own a Mac laptop, to communicate with others in the Mac community, through video. This move would also make an application like Skype less relevant on the Mac platform.

6. Mac OS App Store. The App store, finally, is the key that unlocks the success of the iPhone 4 and iPad. It's the reason why Apple's competitors have had little success in the slate tablet market. It seems improbable, almost pointless, to have an App store for the Mac when software for this environment is readily available on a disc and online. But there are several reasons why it would make sense to have a Mac OS App store: People are just familiar with the concept of downloading apps, because there's more variety; it's easier than driving to an Apple store to buy software; and it's less expensive in many cases.

It's the same reason why Intel is developing its own app store for devices that run on a full-blown version of Windows 7. The question isn't why; it's why not? Sure, developers will have to develop apps for yet another platform, tweaked so that they can run and look great on screens as large as 30 inches. It's a chance for Apple to gain market share in areas such as gaming, since gaming software is already scarce on the Mac side. The iPhone 4 and the iPad, contrarily, are touted as the ultimate mobile gaming platforms, so why not give developers an environment where they have an incentive to create.

Best Buy: Oops! iPad Isn’t Ruining Laptop Sales After All

One thing's for certain: Best Buy CEO Brian J. Dunn really, really loves the iPad. A few days ago he called Apple's tablet device a "magnificent shining light" that will be a favorite among shoppers this holiday season. And in a Sept. 14 article in the Wall Street Journal, Dunn remarked that the popular iPad has cut into sales of laptop PCs, particularly netbooks, by as much as 50 percent.

Although Dunn's laptop comment was buried deep in the WSJ piece, it created a mini-firestorm among tech bloggers, some of whom opined that the iPad was stealing away potential laptop buyers because did nearly everything that consumers could ask of a mobile computer. Indeed, if you're consuming digital content and not creating it, the iPad works very well.

Sensing the need for damage control--and perhaps feeling the heat from Best Buy's laptop-manufacturing business partners--Dunn on Friday released a statement that attempted to smooth things over:

"‘The reports of the demise of these devices are grossly exaggerated,'" Dunn said. "‘While they were fueled in part by a comment in the Wall Street Journal that was attributed to me, they are not an accurate depiction of what we're currently seeing. In fact, we see some shifts in consumption patterns, with tablet sales being an incremental opportunity. And as we said during our recent earnings call, we believe computers will remain a very popular gift this holiday because of the very distinct and desirable benefits they offer consumers. That's why we intend to carry a broad selection of computing products and accessories to address the demand we anticipate this season.'"

Note that Dunn's carefully-worded statement doesn't actually retract his Journal jaw-dropper--that the iPad is cannibalizing laptop sales by as much as 50 percent. It simply says that, well, laptops aren't dying, and that consumption patterns are shifting. OK, whatever. Perhaps the takeaway here is that many tech consumers, most likely casual users, feel the iPad meets their computing needs. And if they have strong feelings for the new Android tablets as well, 2011 could be the Year of the Slate.