Wasn't there rumour some time ago of BB getting the Apple Store EasyPay iPod touches? Perhaps this is an evolvement of this strategy.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Best Buy to Provide iPads to All Retail Employees?
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I think you are over-stating the issue. Apple employees do this all day long with iPads in hand, grabbing all kinds of products.
this is a little off topic, but i recently stayed at the plaza hotel in new york city and each room had an ipad that controlled the lights and temperature of the room. i thought it was totally awesome! here's a pic of it i took:
Wow.. that is cool. Did the iPad do other things too or did they lock it somehow so it only showed the one application? Just curious.
If you want to count that as a rental, then go ahead.
In that case, when I go to the Honda dealership and buy a civic, I have only really rented it, because I plan on trading it in towards a Honda Odyssey when I get married and have kids.
Couldn't the exact same thing happen with many of the high priced electronics that BB sells? That is why they have security tags that set off an alarm when you leave with a product (or portable sales tool) that hasn't been disarmed.
Last edited by a moderator:
When I see comments like this, I realize some people have never worked with an iPad all day. I carry mine all day as a teacher and I don't have any problems. The iPad is not a computer; it's a tablet. I put it under my arm, and both hands are free, unless I have to lift something higher than my shoulders. That rarely happens in Best Buy, and when it does, lock it in one of the cabinets.
Apple employees manage to carry their mobile cashless registers all day long. I'm sure Best Buy employees can figure it out.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)
In my town, best buy is the one place you can depend on for Apple bashing. Every time I have inquired about an Apple branded product of any kind, the answer was given after hearing a story about how the BB associate has gotten rid of all their Apple "junk" and how much they loathe anything Apple. Further, Apple products there have almost never been in stock. So let's reward them for bashing Apple with all their might by giving them free iPads!
Brilliant!
In my town, best buy is the one place you can depend on for Apple bashing. Every time I have inquired about an Apple branded product of any kind, the answer was given after hearing a story about how the BB associate has gotten rid of all their Apple "junk" and how much they loathe anything Apple. Further, Apple products there have almost never been in stock. So let's reward them for bashing Apple with all their might by giving them free iPads!
Brilliant!
Same here. My friend went in to buy an iPad last fall and they told her to wait for the HP tablet because the iPad sucks and there will be more Android apps. She left and went to an Apple Store nearby to get her iPad. I have no idea why they bash Apple. Maybe the Geek Squad would be out of biz if everyone used Macs. Everytime I am in a BB, I always hear some Geek Squad guy confusing the heck out of old people with tech speak. I don't get it.
Same here. My friend went in to buy an iPad last fall and they told her to wait for the HP tablet because the iPad sucks and there will be more Android apps. She left and went to an Apple Store nearby to get her iPad. I have no idea why they bash Apple. Maybe the Geek Squad would be out of biz if everyone used Macs. Everytime I am in a BB, I always hear some Geek Squad guy confusing the heck out of old people with tech speak. I don't get it.
What do you expect? Best Buy is staffed by a bunch of kids who spend all day looking for free software and music.
I work for Best Buy and while my store is not one of the "Connected stores" we have a couple iPads available to sign out. The main purpose of them is to demo particular apps that help us sell product (control 4, slingbox, etc...), and to find things for the customer online. I had one once while with a customer looking at hard drives, and he told me that he saw a particular model cheaper online so I just looked it up on the spot instead of going over to a computer to do so. It basically saved me a few minutes in order to go help the next customer.
partially, they are losing money because they invest in stupid things like Buyback that will probably be axed in a year, and they also are getting smaller margins on actual product which means they have to jack up accessory and service prices to make up for that (this is where your post comes in).
Lastly if this whole connected concept fails then I'm not quite sure what will happen to the company.
Btw this connected concept is more than just giving iPads to employees. It involves training employees on the entire sales floor instead of having dedicated departments. The idea is that items in several departments work together. My store for example has a demo with a samsung galaxy tab, samsung camera, and samsung phone sending content over wifi to a samsung tv. Many average consumers are unaware of such features.
I haven't read any of the other earlier comments but saw an employee with an iPad today. It looked like it was running some kind of remote terminal software or something. They had the Apple iPad black cover on it too... Only saw one though out of the many running around the place.
Would it be possible to turn a camera equipped iPad into a portable credit card terminal?
Would it be possible to turn a camera equipped iPad into a portable credit card terminal?
They are pushing the living **** out of their 'geek squad'. Even charging for putting on screen guards.
They need the money somehow...
Nope, not quite...
Actually, as an employee of Best Buy, we just went over this rumor today in our morning meeting and it is incorrect. We do not get to use iPads on the sales floor nor get to have one for personal use. We use PC tablets that run Windows 7. There may be a couple stores that get iPads, but it is definitely not a company-wide deal.
p.s.
I currently work at a "Connected Store".
Actually, as an employee of Best Buy, we just went over this rumor today in our morning meeting and it is incorrect. We do not get to use iPads on the sales floor nor get to have one for personal use. We use PC tablets that run Windows 7. There may be a couple stores that get iPads, but it is definitely not a company-wide deal.
p.s.
I currently work at a "Connected Store".
No idea do you
You have no idea what you are talking about. I am a former member of the Genii club, and know from experience what it takes to work at Apple. It's harder to get into some Ivy League Schools then get accepted to work at Apple (FACT). All Genii have certifications, ones that require weeks of training and passing real life certification classes (I went to Cali for a month 8-5 Monday-Fri class time in preparation). 60-70% of the Genii I worked with in my store had college degrees, and were not "cast offs" they did it for the love of Apple. I must add that we were all over qualified, and gladly so. I wouldn't take back my time working for them... not for anything. We are not as you say, and your visceral hatred towards a brand reeks of arrogance, and ignorance.
Thanks,
Matthew
You have no idea what you are talking about. I am a former member of the Genii club, and know from experience what it takes to work at Apple. It's harder to get into some Ivy League Schools then get accepted to work at Apple (FACT). All Genii have certifications, ones that require weeks of training and passing real life certification classes (I went to Cali for a month 8-5 Monday-Fri class time in preparation). 60-70% of the Genii I worked with in my store had college degrees, and were not "cast offs" they did it for the love of Apple. I must add that we were all over qualified, and gladly so. I wouldn't take back my time working for them... not for anything. We are not as you say, and your visceral hatred towards a brand reeks of arrogance, and ignorance.
Thanks,
Matthew
Obviously you've never shopped Geek Squad prices, or Genius bar. Most stuff by a "Genius" is free, Geek Squad charges you to speak.
I call BS, if not why not Apple Employees
i really believe that the Best Buy is not willing to spend 20million on iPads for the sales floor employee's and if they did what about (apple employees) come its make more sense to give it to them. IDK these move would set back best buy 20 million if not more... that's only taking in account for baseline iPads
i really believe that the Best Buy is not willing to spend 20million on iPads for the sales floor employee's and if they did what about (apple employees) come its make more sense to give it to them. IDK these move would set back best buy 20 million if not more... that's only taking in account for baseline iPads
it had this app and then another one that just told you about the plaza and what you could do around NYC. they "hid" the other apps (app store, safari, notepad..the standard stuff) in a folder on a different page. although very cool, it *sort of* seems like a waste of an ipad if it only does 2-3 things.
i could see them doing even more with it though, like ordering room service, butler/maid service from the ipad.
There are no cheap honeycomb tablets.....yet
Big misconception. So far iPads are the cheapest entry point tablets around at $499 for the iPad2 and $399 for the ipad. No Honeycomb tablet that can match that currently exists. The Xoom is like, $600 with a contract and it's still a half finished product.
With Apple buying flash storage and screens in bulk (and with advanced payments); they can drive down cost better than any other company who didn't know to plan ahead.
Big misconception. So far iPads are the cheapest entry point tablets around at $499 for the iPad2 and $399 for the ipad. No Honeycomb tablet that can match that currently exists. The Xoom is like, $600 with a contract and it's still a half finished product.
With Apple buying flash storage and screens in bulk (and with advanced payments); they can drive down cost better than any other company who didn't know to plan ahead.