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neilm said:

It's always seemed to me that Apple's lack of love for the iPad Mini reflects the same sentiment on the part of the buying public. How often does anyone see the iPad Mini out in the wild? The lower price and smaller size may make it nice for kids, but other than that...

Who knows how many minis Apple sells. But I see a lot of them. People use them as Kindle book readers on trains and planes, at the beach, in the park, and I see them around the office used as hand held notepads, which are much less cumbersome than a full-sized iPad. If they had Pencil support, I would have bought one a long time ago. Much easier to hold with one hand while taking notes. And I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer one to my full-sized iPad when traveling. Outside of individual consumer uses, I see minis used at point of sale terminals everywhere, and as wait staff ordering devices at some restaurants.  So there’s clearly a sizable market for them, the question is if it’s big enough for Apple.

It looks as though they will move the Lightning connector onto the case proper, perhaps in the hump itself. It will likely have a Qi charging coil. But then I wonder if maybe they won’t even eliminate the Lightning port pass-Through? To get customers used to a future without Lightning? 

welshdog said:

I wish more restaurants would use Apple Pay at the table for payment. I really hate seeing my card leave the table to get scanned. Maybe Apple needs to offer a hardware soluton that makes this easier for the restaurants or the makers of restaurant management software.

Every restaurant I’ve been to in Greece can take ApplePay right at the table, as well as credit cards. And wireless credit card systems are in ubiquitous use throughout the world outside of the US, whether they take ApplePay or not. There’s no reason a country as affluent as the US should be behind Greece. Apple has hardware solutions they use in their own stores, which I’m sure they could offer to businesses, and even target restaurants. So it’s a real head scratcher ... then again, the US just got the chip which Europe has had for over a decade, and still have useless signature requirements with no secure PIN in sight ...

urashid said:

PaulSelden said:

I love the iPad mini. It fits easily in my pocket, so is good for reading a map when out walking. It is great for reading the newspaper. I just wish Apple would upgrade it to use the stylus.

I don't think the stylus is coming to iPad mini, but I am hoping for a new mini with the same design as the new iPad Pro.  That will be an instant buy for me.

Why wouldn’t they bring the Pencil to the mini? If you think they’re going to redesign it to match the new iPadPro, there’s no way they wouldn’t. It’s just that many more Pencils they could sell.

If Apple were only promoting the Pencil as a drawing tool, that would be one thing, but the fact they’re making it easy to both access and use it for note taking makes the mini a must for Pencil use, assuming the mini has any future at all for Apple’s plans. 

dipdog3 said:

All-Purpose Guru said:

Their current painful solution, Walmart Pay, tries to offer convenience for using a debit card, which is not subject to the high prices of credit cards

Your statement is wrong. You can use a credit card with Walmart Pay, do it all the time.

It’s also not a “painful” solution. It’s somewhere in between using a physical credit card and Apple Pay.

The biggest issue with Walmart Pay is that you have to open up the Walmart app & click on Walmart Pay to use it. Once you scan the QR code, it’s actually faster than Apple Pay. On the positive side, all of your receipts are stored in the app, so saves paper and makes for easy returns.

Are you saying WalMart still doesn’t hand customers a wad of paper when they pay with the app? I find that hard to believe. And I rarely return items with receipts. As long as I use the same credit card I bought the item with, the store’s system can look it up and handle the whole thing electronically. So that’s not really a unique solution to anything. Granted, better stored in the app than paper.

On the other hand, I find Apple Pay is one of the hardest to make returns with, and I’m not sure if it’s the retailer not complying with Apple Pay standards or not. I’m required to produce an ID even with a receipt to return something since there’s no physical card, even if I’m buying something else.

applesauce007 said:
They do have iPhones and credit/debit cards.  Some may need to be shown how to set it up and use it.

These stores are learning that customers don't want to use a different payment system for every store.

Apple Pay is driving mobile payments globally.  Any vendor that does not support it will eventually lose some sales and have more credit/debit fraud cases to deal with.  That leads to higher fraud insurance premiums for them.

Not to mention that Apple Pay speeds up payment processing lines.   Walgreens cashiers love ApplePay as it supports both Walgreens Rewards in addition to payments.  No code or phone number to enter and no change to give back.  Just beep and go. Face ID makes it even easier.

MplsP said:

lkrupp said:

First CVS and now Target. The big prize is Walmart of course and I wonder how long till they give in.

Probably a while - the average WalMart customer doesn’t have an iPhone...

WalMart offers things most retailers don’t. Which sets the payment practice apart from most of their retailers. Walgreens customers aren’t loading up a shopping cart with a weeks worth of groceries, and home goods — they’re mostly a few items picked up with some prescriptions, or a convenience purchase, forgotten at the generally much cheaper WalMart. So the speed at which they push customers through the cashier is important, where paying for the items is often slower than ringing hem up. 

For WalMart customers, the payment process can take a long time as each item is scanned and bagged. Customers are also wading through coupons, scanning rewards cards, and so forth. By the time the items are rung up and bagged, there’s plenty of time for the customer to open the app, select WMPay and scan the QR. and there’s added incentive to do this by Walmart offering points and discounts for using the app. This is a major reason why people still use the Starbucks app, even though they now take Apple Pay — for the rewards plan, bonuses, and gifts offered for pulling out the app, and scanning the QR code to complete the purchase, not to mention reloading the card. I haven’t personally used the Walmart app, but the Starbucks app at least pops up when I walk into a Starbucks, so WalMart could likely make it easier to use if it doesn’t already.

So while having one payment system is preferable for most customers, if there’s enough incentive they won’t care. There’s nothing I hate more than the whole rewards card process before every purchase at major chain stores, and I still have to go through it whether I have one or not. Then there’s the person who lost theirs and has to try 3 phone numbers because they don’t remember which they signed up with. So many customers don’t care about extra steps if the benefits are worth taking them.