Apple has updated its Apple Store mobile app with a new feature that turns your iPhone into a wallet. EasyPay, built into the latest version of the Apple Store mobile app allows users to use their phones to buy Apple products and items from select partners without interacting with Apple employees in the retail store.

Apple Store App 2.0 brings two new features that will make life easier for the discerning Apple store shopper. Easy Pay is a new feature that allows users to shop and purchase items using the app. The process is simple. You look around the Apple store, find something you like, pick it up and then open the Easy Pay app. Once you scan the product, the app gives you relevant information about the product you want to buy like the price and user reviews. You can complete the transaction by logging in with your Apple ID and paying with the credit card associated with your iTunes Account. A PDF version of the receipt will be sent to you.

Also launching with the Easy Pay app is the new Personal Pickup service which makes it possible to pick up the product any Apple Retail Store. The customer can buy the product in one store using the Easy Pay app and choose to pick it up at another Apple store.

On the surface Easy Pay will make shopping in the Apple store more streamlined but there are some caveats to this process. For one thing as simple as this system is for shoppers it also makes it simple for those with malicious intent to walk away with Apple products. Apple is planning to let customers just walk away with the product without any interference from the store's employees. An open system just begs the criminal element to stroll in and walk off with the merchandise. At least for the time being Easy Pay only applies to small items in Apple stores, for the bigger purchases like Macs and Cinema Displays customers will still have to deal with the salespeople.

Another downside with Easy Pay is that the feature will only work with the cameras on the newer versions of the iPhone namely the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. The payment option is limited to the credit card associated with the user's Apple ID.

There's no denying that Easy Pay will make life easier for shoppers but only for Apple shoppers. Although it doesn't offer the same generalized mobile payment solution like Google Wallet, Easy Pay will still appeal to retail stores that have a large enough customer base like Wal-Mart or Best Buy. For now Easy Pay only works in U.S. Apple stores but Apple should work on extending the service to other international stores. Who knows a few years from now you could be buying an iPad in Europe and choosing to pick it up in Australia.