tjwolf

Is "need to open Walmart app and scan QR code" the best you could do to contrast the two mobile payment systems?  How about the biggest difference: Walmart requires ACCESS TO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT!

Obviously Walmart's statements about doing it to help its customers "make shopping easier and faster" is total BS.  As others have already commented, there are already mobile payment solutions like Apple Pay and whatever-Samsungs-or-Google's-things-are-called that do this better and faster than this purports to.  No, the real reason is *money* of course.  Like everyone, Walmart has to pay MC/Visa/Amex/Discover a fee every time someone uses them to pay.  This mobile solution lets Walmart get around that - since it'll take the money directly out of your bank account!

I don't buy that.  I have used ApplePay at several merchants (e.g. Harris Teeter) where the chip cards were still disabled, but where I could use NFC.  So it doesn't seem that EMV is required for ApplePay to work.

badmonk said:

Who said Apple would do it alone at the end of the day?  So an electric car is not much different than Apple's other product lines...computer, battery technology are the things that challenge conventional car manufacturers and these things (plus indistrial design) are Apple strong points.

An electric engine, chassis, wheels, brakes and steering seem like the issues they may need outside help with.  But they can buy these intellectual sets on the market.

Manufacturing will be a non-issue as this will be contracted out as usual.

Without labor costs, a bloated executive class and legacy retirement funds to worry about, Apple will do fine.

Of course there's labor cost - it's just part of the manufacturing outsourcing you speak of.  But who would they outsource assembly to?  It's not like there are generic "car assembly" plants around - the ones that exist belong to existing car manufacturers who would hardly agree to manufacture a competitor's car!

I doubt Apple will ever build a car - the margins aren't anywhere near what it currently gets.  I think they'll simply expand CarPlay to include options such as "driverless car".

larrya said:

So, if my device is paired, involuntary tracking is a non-issue. And if I have a Garmin device, someone could add steps or activities.  Yawn.  

I still choose GPS and waterproofing and battery life. 

Or heart rate (I don't actually know if your Garmin has that).  In any event, as people become dependent on accurate heart rate measurements, getting that data messed with by someone is hardly a yawn.

And, of course, some have more capable fitness tracking devices - so there's not just steps and activities.

I fell victim to the Sport's fragility.  I like to swim - but Apple Watch isn't waterproof, so I take it off and put it in the locker.  One day, when I lifted my gym bag out of the locker, the watch, lying beneath, got dragged out with the bag.  It fell 3-4 feet to the tiled floor.  Because of the weight distribution, it fell right onto its screen (unlike most cheap sport watches, the Apple Watch has no protruding bezel to protect the glass at all) and the glass got a million cracks.

Apple's warranty doesn't cover accidents.  But what the he11 does "Sport" even mean - the only sport it seems designed for is golf!  And, get this: a new screen is $200!  (When Apple Watch went on sale around x-mas, a new one cost just another $50!)  Screw this, I thought - I'll wait until the new version comes out!  I glued a screen protector on top of the crumbling glass to keep from getting cut.  Other than being hard to read now, it still works.