One of the things I have always been puzzled by was why Apple never sold “electronic” versions of Apple Store Gift Cards. Sure you can walk into an Apple Store and buy an Apple Store Gift Card and hand it someone, but there was no way to do this via their website and have the card “emailed” to the recipient. Yet this is possible with iTunes Gift Cards and pretty much has been since day one. When Apple showed of iOS 6 and specifically Passbook, one of the examples was an Apple Store Gift Card. This makes sense and I wondered would this also mean that they would finally allow these cards to be gifted electronically? The answer is yes and no. If you download the Free Apple Store App for your IOS device you can now finally buy Apple Store Gift Cards ($25-$2,000) that can be delivered either by regular mail or by email (Just in time for the Holiday Season). Yes! Finally! If you receive an Apple Store Gift Card via email you can even add it to your Passbook! Great. During this process you will prompted to enter a zip code so that your card can automatically pop up on the lock screen when you’re near an Apple Store in that zip code area. Neat!
Good start, but…
This is great start and long overdue, but there are some things that are missing. As far as I can tell there is no way to add an existing physical gift card to your Passbook. Also and still to my shock and dismay this App is still not a Universal App with native iPad support! Huh? Almost all the other Apple branded Apps are Universal Apps for all iOS devices, yet the Apple Store App still remains an iPhone/iPod touch formated App. My buddy argues with me that there is no need for it to be on iPad since the Apple Store works fine in Safari on iPad. While that’s true the same could have been said for the Apple Store website on iPhone, yet Apple saw fit to make an App instead of simply making the Apple Store a mobile website. I just don’t get it. I’d also like to see multiple “saved” payment options supported. Sometimes I want to use my personal credit card and sometimes I want to use my business credit card. I’d like to enter this info once in the App and be able to choose between multiple payment methods at check out (even If I have to enter a pin to do so). Simply tying it to my Apple ID stored credit card is not enough. Speaking of business. If you have any kind of business or organizational discount with Apple there is no way that I know of to take advantage of that discount in the Apple Store App. Apple, this is YOUR App. There is no reason that it shouldn’t support all the features of YOUR online store. Nonetheless, this App keeps getting better with each update.
