Apple Retail Stores will soon offer the ability to use self-checkout for shelf-stocked items, reports MacRumors, using a forthcoming update to the official Apple Store app. The purchases will reportedly be charged directly through the iOS app.
It’s extremely unclear how this will work, and how Apple will guard against theft using this system, as it would seemingly be much easier to grant yourself a “five finger discount” on items using this method.
More expensive products, such as Macs and iPhones, are already kept in the stockroom at the Apple Store, requiring employees to retrieve these items for you in order to reduce theft, but many other items, including portable hard drives and accessories, are still stocked on shelves.
Perhaps Apple Store employees will simply keep a close lookout for suspicious behavior, and then request that customers display an email receipt for their purchase to verify that they have paid.
The update is reportedly scheduled to arrive on November 3rd, and Apple Retail Stores will likely implement the program alongside the update.
