Good news if you live in Australia, the UK, France and an unknown collection of other countries because new reports claim that Apple is getting close to launching its Personal Pickup program outside the United States for the first time, possibly as soon as this month.
Personal Pickup, in its current form in the United States, allows customers to place orders for items such as iPads, Macs and iPhones online and then pick the item up at a retail Apple Store an hour later. This has the added benefit of not having to sit at home waiting for a delivery to arrive while also meaning customers won’t need to go through the often lengthy in-store buying experience, with choices on configuration and color options already taken care of before setting foot in a store.
Apple is said to be getting its retail employees up to speed in preparation of an international launch of Personal Pickup, with a launch time-frame possibly set to coincide with the launch of the iPad Pro next week. Apple hasn’t confirmed its plans yet, again according to the same report, and it’s still possible that it could decide to shelve plans for the program’s launch until next year, presumably in order to enable stores to launch the program without the spotlight and anticipated demand of both a new product launch and a likely busy Christmas period. The counter argument here, though, is that anything that can make an Apple Store more bearable at Christmas is a good idea, so we can only hope Personal Pickup launches in international markets as soon as possible!
Personal Pickup originally debuted in the United States back in the year 2011 and it has taken much longer than we might have expected for Apple to get ready for an international launch. Here’s hoping this isn’t a false dawn, and that those of us outside the United States will be able take advantage of Personal Pickup this side of Christmas.
(Source: MacRumors)
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