Tag Archives: credit-card

iPad’s Momentum in Restaurants Grows with Buffalo Wild Wings Trial

Posted on February 7, 2012 by admin

Ever since the iPad was introduced two years ago, its potential to revolutionize the restaurant industry has been widely touted, with some restaurants already moving to replace their traditional point-of-sale devices with iPads and companies such as Square seeking to fill that need. And while iPads in restaurants have been catching on here and there , the concept could be ripe for major expansion if a pilot program from restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings proves worthwhile. As detailed by Computerworld , Buffalo Wild Wings is expanding an initial pilot program at one of its Toronto area locations to a new location in Minneapolis, stocking each table with an iPad to allow customers to place their own orders and browse the Internet. “Ultimately, we are trying to use the technology to enhance the customer experience,” [Buffalo Wild Wings director of international business Tim Murphy] said in an interview. “People are familiar with iPads, iPhones and Android tablets, so this would enhance that.” The chain hasn’t decided whether to combine purchasing from the device with purely entertainment uses, something it hopes to measure in its tests, Murphy said. The iPad project has seen Buffalo Wild Wings partner with HubWorks Interactive , which offers several different mobile ordering platforms for the iPad along with a case that offers security and protection, a kickstand, a credit card reader, and extended power capabilities including AC power or up to 16 hours of battery life. The company sells basic iPad packages for $750 apiece. Rather than bolting or tethering the iPads to the tables, Buffalo Wild Wings has opted to equip each device with an RFID chip to serve as a deterrent to theft. The report notes that social restaurants such as Buffalo Wild Wings are ideal environments for the iPad, with the restaurants typically catering to larger crowds where at least some members have an interest in staying for extended periods of time and watching sports on the numerous televisions mounted around the dining areas. In the first test, while men in a group typically watched a football or hockey game, women in the group would pick up the iPad and launch Facebook, Murphy said. “We have a very captive audience with good sales volume in our restaurants, so we view this iPad as a way for customers to stay connected socially and not have to use their own device.” Buffalo Wild Wings continues to explore all options for the iPad in its restaurants, considering integration of mobile advertising to help offset costs and discussing the possibility of using camera-equipped iPad models to allow video chatting at tables. Continue reading →

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Sony’s ‘Music Unlimited’ Service Headed to iPhone and iPod Touch [iOS Blog]

Posted on January 11, 2012 by admin

VentureBeat reports that Sony will be bringing its “Music Unlimited” streaming service to the iPhone and iPod touch within the next three months, looking to make inroads into Apple’s ecosystem that has been dominated on the music side by iTunes. The electronics company will offer a free iPhone and iPad app for Music Unlimited at some point this quarter, Tim Schaaff, head of Sony Entertainment Network said today at a small CES media gathering. Additionally, the iOS app will offer offline caching for subscribers to Sony’s service, allowing users to save their playlists for listening when away from a network connection. Sony introduced its Music Unlimited service nearly a year ago and garnered some attention when a company executive suggested that Sony Music could pull its content from the iTunes Store if Music Unlimited proved successful, although another Sony executive disputed that notion soon after. Sony’s Music Unlimited app for iOS (Source: The Verge ) As a subscription service, Apple would take a 30% cut of a revenue from subscriptions generated through an iOS app from Sony. But Apple’s scaled-back subscription rules that went into effect last year would allow Sony to still offer an app without having to share revenue with Apple as long as the app itself does not allow subscription signups and does not contain any external links to sign up for service outside of the app. Continue reading →

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‘Red Friday’ to Bring Deals for Asian Apple Customers This Friday

Posted on January 3, 2012 by admin

Apple has begun informing customers in several of its Asian markets regarding this Friday’s one-day shopping event in celebration of the Lunar New Year. Termed “Red Friday”, the event is similar to Apple’s Black Friday shopping deals in many areas of the world, where the company offers discounts on a number of different items including Macs, iPads, and iPods, as well as accessories. According to 9to5Mac , the Red Friday deals will be offered through Apple’s online stores in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. The deals will be also available in the company’s brick-and-mortar stores in China and Hong Kong. The event also falls during the same week that Apple celebrated the new year in Japan with its annual Lucky Bag promotion , allowing customers to buy bags containing mystery Apple and third-party products at a discounted price of $430. Continue reading →

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Verizon Drops $2 ‘Convenience Fee’ Due to Complaints [iOS Blog]

Posted on December 30, 2011 by admin

As noted by The Verge , Verizon has announced that they are not going to charge the $2 ‘convenience fee’ that was originally planned to go into effect on January 15th. Verizon Wireless has decided it will not institute the fee for online or telephone single payments that was announced earlier this week. The company made the decision in response to customer feedback about the plan, which was designed to improve the efficiency of those transactions. The company continues to encourage customers to take advantage of the numerous simple and convenient payment methods it provides. “At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers. Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time,” said Dan Mead, president and chief executive officer of Verizon Wireless. The company had planned to charge customers $2 for one-time payments made online or over the phone. Continue reading →

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Verizon to Charge $2 Fee for One Time Payments Online or Over the Phone [iOS Blog]

Posted on December 30, 2011 by admin

A Droid-Life story from yesterday has generated a lot of complaints about Verizon’s billing practices. The site posted a Verizon memo that detailed a new “convenience” charge that the company would be charing for online payments. Big Red will start charging you a $2 fee both over the phone and online for your monthly bill transaction unless you have your account set up to pay automatically. Those enrolled in auto-pay or pay by mail or electronic check will avoid the fees. The new charges kick in on January 15th. Continue reading →

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Apple Pulls Match.com iOS App over External Subscription Links

Posted on December 2, 2011 by admin

TechCrunch notes that Apple has removed online dating service Match.com’s iOS app from the App Store over violations of the company’s in-app subscription requirements. The Match.com app had allowed users to sign up for subscriptions to the service through an external link in the app, a mechanism that is no longer permitted by Apple as it has sought to drive usage of its in-app subscription services that sees Apple taking a 30% cut of revenues. Apple has removed Match.com‘s iOS app because it allowed the lonely to pay for Match subscriptions with a credit card through an external link rather than using the in-app purchases system. That meant Apple wasn’t getting its 30% cut. In June Apple revised its policy to state that “Apps can read or play approved content that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app, as long as there is no button or external link in the app to purchase the approved content.” Apple and Match.com are now negotiating how the app must change before their relationship can be rekindled and they can have an earth-shattering makeup revenue split. Match.com can satisfy Apple’s requirements either by offering an in-app option via Apple, which would result in Apple taking its 30% cut, or by simply omitting any links to external payment mechanisms. Under the latter scenario, users would have to know to visit the full Match.com site to sign up for a subscription, an extra step for users which may reduce the number of new subscribers but one that would enable Match.com to avoid having Apple skim off 30% of subscription revenue from the app. Apple had originally announced that the new in-app subscription requirements would go into effect on June 30th, but the company offered a grace period as it worked with some developers to help them meet the guidelines. Some developers and content providers such as the Financial Times ultimately decided not to adopt Apple’s guidelines, and Apple has in those cases removed the apps from the App Store. It is unclear why it took Apple five months from the official start of the new guideline enforcement to take the Match.com app down. The app was originally introduced back in March 2009 and had been receiving regular updates, but the most recent one had appeared in early June ahead of Apple’s new policy implementation. Match.com may simply have been avoiding submitting any updates or investing further in the app while it either discussed options with Apple or hoped to remain under Apple’s radar, but it seems that Apple has decided that the best way to encourage compliance was to remove the app for the time being. Continue reading →

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Apple On Track for NFC-Enabled iPhone in 2012?

Posted on November 22, 2011 by admin

Following conflicting rumors about whether the iPhone 4S would include near field communication (NFC) technology (rumors that were eventually decided in the negative), Digitimes reports that Apple is indeed one of the vendors still expected to introduce NFC-enabled operating system software (and thus hardware) in 2012. Apple’s inclusion of NFC in next year’s iPhone would appear to come as part of a tipping point for the technology, with the technology’s prevalence in the smartphone industry set to increase from about 10% to over 50% in the span of two to three years. As Android, Symbian, BlackBerry and Bada have supported NFC (near field communication) functions and Microsoft and Apple plan to make Windows Phone and iOS support NFC in 2012, the proportion of NFC-enabled smartphones will quickly increase from less than 10% currently to over 50% in two to three years, according to Taiwan-based smartphone makers. NFC standardization issues have been one problem slowing adoption of the technology, but with 45 wireless carriers including AT&T and Verizon now signed on to a SIM-based standard, those issues may be reaching a resolution. Back-and-forth rumors about whether NFC would appear in the 2011 version of the iPhone led to considerable uncertainty about where Apple stood on the technology, with The New York Times noting in March that NFC would be a part of a “coming iteration” of the iPhone without specifying a product generation. By mid-May, Bernstein analysts correctly predicted not only that NFC would not be included in Apple’s forthcoming iPhone hardware but that the new iPhone would be an iPhone 4S and not a radically redesigned iPhone 5. Continue reading →

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AT&T Introduces Worldwide VoIP Calling App [iOS Blog]

Posted on November 8, 2011 by admin

AT&T has launched a new app to allow its customers to make inexpensive international calls over Wi-Fi. With the AT&T Call International app, customers can get the “lowest international calling rates” that AT&T offers. Calls to the UK, for example, cost $0.04/minute for calls to wireline numbers and $0.27/minute for calls to mobile phones. Calls to China are $0.04/minute. The price list for all countries is available here . Pricing is competitive with other VoIP calling apps like Vonage — though having a major name like AT&T stand behind the app may make some users more comfortable than making calls with a lesser known name. Within the United States, calls are placed like a normal cellular call — no Wi-Fi required, and a nice feature compared to making calls on other VoIP apps — but outside the U.S. all calls are placed only via Wi-Fi. The AT&T Call International app is free to download — call charges are applied to a credit card, not the user’s AT&T phone bill, with no monthly fee or minimum charges. Continue reading →

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Eddy Cue Receives Another 100,000 Shares of Apple Stock [Mac Blog]

Posted on November 4, 2011 by admin

As revealed in a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple has awarded Eddy Cue an additional 100,000 shares of company stock in the form of restricted stock units. The stock units were issued on November 2nd and will vest in September 2014 (25,000 shares) and September 2016 (75,000 shares) if Cue remains employed by Apple at those milestone dates. At Apple’s present stock price, the stock would be worth $40 million, although the final value will be determined as of the dates that the different portions vest. This is the second such grant Cue has received since being promoted to senior vice president for Internet software and services two months ago. The first batch of 100,000 restricted stock units was awarded on September 2nd following his promotion, and those units will vest in two equal portions in August 2013 and August 2015. Cue also holds a number of other restricted stock units that he had been awarded prior to his promotion. Cue has been at Apple for 22 years, and played an integral role overseeing the iTunes Store and App Store. His role has significantly expanded over the past year or so, adding oversight of Apple’s iCloud service and iBookstore. Just this past August, Cue also took over leadership of the iAd program following the departure of Andy Miller . Continue reading →

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Apple’s Cards App Has Some Kinks [iOS Blog]

Posted on November 1, 2011 by admin

Apple’s new Cards app makes it very easy to send real, physical greeting cards through the mail. For just $2.99 (within the U.S.), Apple will print and mail a custom card. But the implementation has some faults. For one, when sending cards to multiple addressees (holiday cards or event invitations, for example), Apple treats each card as an individual purchase from the Apple Online Store, rather than bundling purchases like on the iTunes Store. This means that for each card sent, Apple sends two emails (one for the order and another when it ships), sends a push notification (upon delivery), and charges a credit card. When purchasing multiple apps or songs from the iTunes or App Stores, Apple aggregates multiple orders into one credit card charge. This lowers the company’s credit card fees and, as seen above, avoids clogging bank statements with dozens of charges. It also avoids having a credit card locked due to the bank assuming that 8 charges for $3.08 in 10 minutes is fraudulent activity. The most annoying of the app’s quirks is the tendency of the app to fail during checkout, occasionally requiring multiple attempts to purchase a card for no discernible reason. When the purchase fails Apple still authorizes the credit card, resulting in even more charges appearing. This weekend, when ordering 37 cards, my credit card was charged for 52 transactions, though the additional charges eventually disappeared. The Cards app is a convenient way to send personalized cards through the mail, but it needs a few tweaks, including a native iPad version and the ability for users to easily send cards to multiple addresses without dozens of individual credit card charges. Continue reading →

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