Can you prevent another app from opening within your app?

How does the new Apple Store app prevent people from shoplifting?

• I'm talking about the new EasyPay feature in this app - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/apple-store/id375380948?mt=8 that lets you buy small items quickly by scanning the barcode and completing your transaction right in the app.

• Answer:

  I don't think it really changes anything at all. If you've ever been into an Apple Store you'll probably notice that they already have a pretty "open" environment in this regard. You don't need to line up at a cash register when purchasing something -- you can simply go to any employee on the floor, who have all been equipped with mobile POS terminals.  This makes it already difficult to visually confirm whether a person has legitimately purchased an item that they're leaving the store with. Bags and printed receipts are already optional; you can carry a purchase out without a bag at all or put it in your own bag, and you can have the receipt e-mailed to you instead of printed.  Again, this means that Apple Store employees are already deprived of another obvious clue as to whether an item was legitimately purchased or not. When you walk out the door, there may or may not be an employee there, and they may or may not be engaged with another customer. However, the front-of-store employees serve a primary purpose as greeters for new customers on the way into the store. Employees do not walk you to the front of the store after a purchase.  You're pretty much left to leave on your own. So in a crowded Apple Store (which they almost always are) it's going to be very difficult to visually identify people who have legitimately paid for an item and those who have just picked it up off the shelf and walked out with it.  Like most retailers, Apple Stores already have a certain amount of loss due to theft, and the new EasyPay system is unlikely to change that -- I don't think potential shoplifters are going to find it any easier than it already is, and honest people will happily pay for items regardless of what payment methods are available. It's also very important to note that the real big-ticket items are not on display and you will still have to go through an employee if you want to buy an iPod, iPhone, iPad or Mac.  Other expensive items are usually larger and therefore noticeable and also in somewhat limited stock. That said, I'm sure Apple already has their own loss prevention methods in play, including the visible security guards present at most stores and the plainclothes security people that are no doubt posing as customers.  However, making this too obvious would contradict the image that Apple wants to present to its customers of being a friendly, open environment.  Apple has obviously decided even long before they implemented the new EasyPay system that it's far better to welcome customers with open arms and risk a bit of loss due to theft than it is to create a more unpleasant customer environment.  So far, that strategy seems to be working.