Jeremiah

Whilst preparing my taxes, I needed to grab a receipt for a purchase made at the online Apple Store. The online Apple Store is one of the few places where I don’t mind having an account, as I purchase from it frequently. However, the online Apple Store exhibits one of the biggest flaws in ecommerce check out procedures: being more concerned about my password than I am.

When I tried to login to retrieve the receipt, I was prompted that my password had expired. This happens every 3 months. I sighed and then proceeded to enter another of my usual passwords for online purchases.

Oops! That password had been used within the last year. Actually, all of the three passwords that I typically use for online purchases had been used within the last year. I made the unfortunate mistake of purchasing from the online Apple Store at least once every quarter in 2007.

I fidgeted. I couldn’t think of another password to add to my arsenal of unimportant, yet memorable passwords. I remember nearly 20 unique passwords that I use regularly. Having to remember another unique password just for Apple just for a quarter bothered me, but I needed to view my previous order. I came up with a new, memorable password.

Crap. The password must include a number. and be more than six characters long. and not be one of the four passwords used in the last year. I wondered why the requirement for a number was not listed with the other password specifications.

After five minutes, I was able to view my previous orders… only to remember that I made the purchase at a physical Apple Store.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 17th, 2008 at 16:15 and is tagged Apple, usability.