Last week, Apple began offering customers the option of having their online orders shipped to their local retail store for pickup, a service especially valuable for those who have difficulty receiving shipments at their home or office. The "ship to store" option initially rolled out in the company's three San Francisco stores, and quickly expanded to include all sixteen Bay Area stores before the four New York City stores jointed the program earlier this week.
Apple has been said to be taking the service full-scale as of today as part of a series of retail enhancements that will also allow customers to use self-checkout for shelf-stocked items at Apple retail stores using the company's iOS app.
Evidence of Apple making minute-by-minute tweaks to the ship to store program is visible in Apple's online store, where just a short time ago customers had the option of using the service throughout the company's 51 California and four New York City stores.
The new expanded program did not last long, however, as Apple now appears to have completely shut down the ship to store option, with all stores listing online-only items as "unavailable for pickup". Items stocked in-store can still be purchased through the system, with California and New York City stores listing those products as "available now".
Apple is said to be viewing in-store pickup and self-checkout as major changes for the future of its retail stores, expecting that the majority of its customers will utilize in-store pickup as their default delivery method for Apple purchases.
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Tuesday April 14, 2026 4:39 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
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According to the latest rumors, Apple is close to launching its next-generation iPad mini. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released over a year ago? Read on to find out.
Processor and Performance
Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to information found in code...
Saturday April 11, 2026 9:14 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly a year later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon.
In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis.
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Who needs their local store pick-up these days? It's a complete waste of time and in some cases money.
Apple offers free shipping on any order over $50. And the shipping is quick. Only a moron with a ton of free time on his/her hands would want to drive/take local transportation to the local store and then still wait in line.
Some "morons" work and do not trust having little boxes containing stuff that costs hundreds or thousands of dollars being left by their front door all day. Rather than having to work the deal to go pick it up at UPS or Fedex or similar, this gives them the option of picking it up at their local Apple store instead. If the Apple store is closer than the Fedex, etc pickup point, it's not so moronic after all.
Who needs their local store pick-up these days? It's a complete waste of time and in some cases money.
Apple offers free shipping on any order over $50. And the shipping is quick. Only a moron with a ton of free time on his/her hands would want to drive/take local transportation to the local store and then still wait in line.
Just because UPS delivers to your parent's basement, doesn't mean everyone has that same luxury. People have concerns over package drop offs, security, PO boxes only, don't want someone to see their gift, etc.
Plus, someone might want one-on-one help, to ask some additional questions before opening ... we could probably come up with dozens of scenarios where a store delivery would be preferable.
Who needs their local store pick-up these days? It's a complete waste of time and in some cases money.
Apple offers free shipping on any order over $50. And the shipping is quick. Only a moron with a ton of free time on his/her hands would want to drive/take local transportation to the local store and then still wait in line.
Some people like to stand in line. That way other people can see them standing in line at Apple.
