You Dont Need Much Help Getting an iPad Running
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We walked to the back of the
store and Ian picked out a black, 16GB, Verizon iPad and we went to a table.
About that time, Rick, another Apple store employee, came by and introduced himself
as the business representative. Rick and Ian revealed that they are both eWEEK readers. I wondered briefly if
that explained the cordial reception, but I noticed that everyone else was
being treated just like I was.
Apparently, Apple sends its
store staff to charm school.
Once Ian was done extracting
money from my credit card, he took me to two more Apple Store employees who
were there to help me get my iPad set up and running. In reality, you dont
need much help getting an iPad running. The process is totally intuitive, and
most of the process was spent chatting with the people helping me do the setup
while the new iPad restored information from where Id backed it up from my old
iPadthe original versionto the iCloud the previous night.
The hardest part of the
whole setup, in fact, was the waiting. The Apple stores WiFi was being heavily
used, so things went slowly. Slowest of all was restoring the apps. While we
waited, I entertained the Apple
employees with tales of CeBIT, which gave us a reason to explore the
high-resolution display on the iPad.
As I left, Rick told me that
his numbers indicate that nearly 80 percent of business tablet buyers chose the
iPad. While the crowd waiting in line didnt seem to be particularly business-oriented,
that may be because they just didnt want to wait. Rick said that most business
users had already either called ahead and reserved iPads for pickup later in
the day, or had ordered them online for delivery to the store. Those customers
would be picking up their iPads at less crowded times.
So does the new iPad meet my
expectations? Its hard to say. Right now it's having its battery charged. But
the images on the iPads at the Apple and Verizon stores were impressive, so I
think it will meet everything I need the device for.
Wayne Rash is a Senior Analyst for eWEEK Labs and runs the magazine's Washington Bureau. Prior to joining eWEEK as a Senior Writer on wireless technology, he was a Senior Contributing Editor and previously a Senior Analyst in the InfoWorld Test Center. He was also a reviewer for Federal Computer Week and Information Security Magazine. Previously, he ran the reviews and events departments at CMP's InternetWeek.He is a retired naval officer, a former principal at American Management Systems and a long-time columnist for Byte Magazine. He is a regular contributor to Plane & Pilot Magazine and The Washington Post.
