The store that knows you. And knows where you are.
I was product lead for the Apple Store app, from version 3.7 through 4.0. The app millions of people use to buy Apple from Apple.
4.0 learned two things: who you are, and where you are.
Online, it opened on you. In store, it woke up when you walked in.
It opened on you.
Tell it you carry a Space Gray iPhone 6s and the store leads with what fits it. The case, the dock, the things that work with what is in your pocket. Your devices, your orders, your upgrade, in one place.
Buy the next one from the one you are holding.
Check your upgrade price and move to a new iPhone in a few taps. Configure a Mac down to the processor. Pay with a single touch.
One app for iPhone and iPad, and a companion on Apple Watch.
One store. Every market.
The same experience shipped localized around the world, from Seoul to São Paulo. In language, currency, and local payment, from Apple Pay to bank transfer to installment plans.
And partnerships that extended the app's reach across Asia.
Then you walk into an Apple Store.
And the app changes.
It becomes a tool for the room.
Cross the threshold and the app senses it. The screen goes dark, it names the store you are standing in, and it turns into a scanner, a self-checkout, a guide to the workshop happening a few feet away, a pass for the order waiting at the counter.
Nearby
Directing that handoff meant running the work through two product managers, one for the online experience and one for in store. Exactly the line the app crosses when you walk in the door.
Even on your wrist.
Orders, favorites, the nearest store, and today's workshops. One glance away on Apple Watch.
Everything new in 4.0.
As it shipped to the App Store.
3.7 set the table.
The release before the redesign. I owned the 3.7 roadmap and release, focused on unique iOS features. All good work is the ensemble of a team.
Watch 4.0 in motion.
What I owned.
I was product lead for the Apple Store app, responsible for its roadmap, releases, and portfolio from version 3.7 through 4.0, and I led the 4.0 launch, an eight-month effort with a team in the hundreds across engineering, design, marketing, and retail. I directed it through two product managers, one for the online experience and one for in store, and I also worked on the Apple Store mobile website and partnerships that extended the app across Asia. The app has to feel like Apple made it, because it sits one tap from the storefront it represents. Holding that bar was the job.
4.0 product leads: Ken Loh, Kiran Kripakaran, Matthew Wardenaar, Steve Mummolo, Pallavi Homan.
The best retail software disappears. 4.0 is the release where it learned enough about who and where you were to get out of your way.