Apple opens up new business with POS systems
Late last year there were rumors that Apple would release their EasyPay point-of-sale system as a commercial product to third parties. Last month Apple's first customer, Gap Inc's Old Navy subsidiary began piloting them.
Context & Ripple Effects
Rumors circulating late last year held that Apple would commercialize EasyPay, the checkout system built for its own stores, as a product sold to other retailers — a claim that remained unconfirmed until now. What changed with this report is that the rumor has a named proof point: [[entity:Gap Inc|Gap Inc]]'s Old Navy has begun piloting EasyPay as Apple's first external customer, converting an internal retail tool into the seed of a new business line.
First-order effects
- Old Navy becomes the test bed for Apple's move into third-party retail hardware and software, with its pilot results determining whether EasyPay scales beyond a single store chain.
- Apple opens a revenue stream that competes directly with established retail point-of-sale vendors for the first time, rather than keeping the system proprietary to Apple Stores.
Second-order effects
- Other large apparel and big-box retailers now have a live reference deployment to evaluate, putting pressure on incumbent POS suppliers whose contracts Old Navy-style chains would otherwise renew by default.
- If the pilot succeeds, Apple's pitch to retailers bundles iPhones, iPod touch devices, and software into the sale — pulling adjacent Apple hardware into store back offices alongside the payment system.
Third-order effects
- A successful EasyPay business would mark Apple extending its vertically integrated model from consumer products into merchant infrastructure — the same pattern that later shows up in its NFC and payments discussions, though whether that happens is unconfirmed from here.
- Retail checkout becomes another arena in the Apple-versus-RIM-and-carriers platform contest already visible in enterprise mobile adoption, since whoever owns the store floor device owns the upgrade cycle.
The trend: Apple is gradually turning internal retail technology into external platform businesses, with EasyPay as an early, cautious step.