New reason to visit the Apple Store

If you’re like me and will use any excuse to take a trip to the Apple Store (even though you’ve been there a hundred times and know all of their products like the back of your hand) then I’ve got the excuse for you!

Some Apple stores have upgraded their POS (Point Of Sale) devices from the old crappy windows CE devices, which have received quite a bit of criticism in the past, to their new iPod Touch POS add-on.  The iPod Touch’s new jacket enables credit card swiping and barcode scanning, and the coolest feature about their new POS software from the customer’s perspective has got to be signing for things using your finger.  Not a huge deal, but very cool.

The new POS device is cleaner, a little bulky, but definitely still an upgrade from the old windows CE device they were using before.  Their POS software is also much easier to use and has a much better interface.

The software isn’t without some glitches, however.  My first and only experience with purchasing something using this new device ended up in the device freezing on a screen that said “connecting.”  The device never “connected” to whatever it was trying to connect to, and the store employee had to grab a different unit.  I would imagine that part of Apple’s reason for switching to the new device would be to increase the speed at which customers can purchase their items, but I didn’t experience this.  Without the little hiccup things would have been quite speedy.

Check out more on the unit over at AppleInsiders exclusive look at the device.