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Weekend Retail Store Meetings Related to New iPad-Focused Staff Software?

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Apr 12, 2001
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There has been a considerable amount of back-and-forth regarding staff meetings and other activities reportedly scheduled for this weekend at Apple's retail stores, with some speculation suggesting that Apple could be readying a product launch or other activities related to the company's 10th anniversary of the opening of its first retail stores.

It is beginning to appear, however, that the events may be a revamp of on-floor sales procedures that could see the company equipping its sales staff with iPads for checkout and on-floor demonstration purposes. We had heard last month that the events were related to internal training rather than a special event or launch, but continued rumors have brought ongoing attention to the possibility of something more.

Yesterday, 9 to 5 Mac reported that it had received hints of the events being related to "Apple Store 2.0", suggesting that the changes would be bringing significant changes to the functioning of the company's retail stores.

apple_retail_ipads.jpg

Stocks of iPad 2s waiting for on-floor deployment at Apple retail store​

AppleInsider now appears to be filling in the picture with a new report claiming that Apple retail stores have received shipments of dozens of iPads that appear to be destined for on-floor staff usage and are said to be set to be equipped with a new version of the company's "RetailMe" software to support the rollout.
People familiar with Apple's retail operations revealed that stores across the U.S. have been stocked with dozens of iPads that are being prepared for use by employees. Training and utilization of the hardware could begin as soon as this weekend.

In one location, nearly 40 iPads were supplied for a store with about 100 specialists. Based on those numbers, everyone working on any given day could be equipped with an iPad, perhaps in place of an iPod touch-based EasyPay terminal, which Apple stores switched to in 2009.
Click to expand...
The new RetailMe software offering product information and training materials for sales staff is said to potentially be the subject of the "gigabytes" of training data previously claimed to be scheduled for download to Apple's stores on Saturday, although that theory has yet to be confirmed.

Article Link: Weekend Retail Store Meetings Related to New iPad-Focused Staff Software?
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/05/18/weekend-retail-store-meetings-related-to-new-ipad-focused-staff-software/
It seems like the ipod is more practical for the employees. They can hang it from a lanyard and it doesn't get in the way. I think the ipad would be more cumbersome.
 
Ok, they are going to use iPads for point of sale. I guess this has to be super-secret because they are taking them out of the sales chain and don't want to piss off the customers who can't buy them?!?

There has to be more to this...

FWIW
DLM
 
I wouldn't want to carry an iPad around all day. I know it's not that heavy, but much more cumbersome than the iPod.

Maybe they can carry it "Flava-flav" style? :D
 
dmunz said:
Ok, they are going to use iPads for point of sale. I guess this has to be super-secret because they are taking them out of the sales chain and don't want to piss off the customers who can't buy them?!?

There has to be more to this...

FWIW
DLM
Click to expand...

I agree. There has to be more to this. The need to order black curtains for every store and hide just this doesn't make sense.
 
SOOOOOO....

We finally found out the backlog of iPad 2 orders that caused 3-4 week delays!

They was producing them as mobile tills for apple stores so that should account for a large chunk of them!

Do they get counted in to total ipad sales when steve says how well the ipad 2 has sold?:p
 
new things all the time

i feel like the apple stores get new ways to check out every other week
 
joshs2000ss said:
I wouldn't want to carry an iPad around all day. I know it's not that heavy, but much more cumbersome than the iPod.

Maybe they can carry it "Flava-flav" style? :D
Click to expand...

Flava-flav should have a giant clock app for when wearing the iPad around your neck. Ryan Howard had a large clock shown on his iPad on an early episode of The Office this season.
 
I'm having a hard time believing that all of this secrecy will result in something so boring. So they are going to start using iPad's. How does keeping that a secret benefit anything?
 
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)

A few changes I would suggest
1. Instruct employees how to shave and keep a neat appearance
2. Improve on the 30 to 45 minutes they are running late for appointments.
3. Block Facebook from store computers.
 
MacRumors said:
[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


There has been a considerable amount of back-and-forth regarding staff meetings and other activities reportedly scheduled for this weekend at Apple's retail stores, with some speculation suggesting that Apple could be readying a product launch or other activities related to the company's 10th anniversary of the opening of its first retail stores.

It is beginning to appear, however, that the events may be a revamp of on-floor sales procedures that could see the company equipping its sales staff with iPads for checkout and on-floor demonstration purposes. We had heard last month that the events were related to internal training rather than a special event or launch, but continued rumors have brought ongoing attention to the possibility of something more.

Yesterday, 9 to 5 Mac reported that it had received hints of the events being related to "Apple Store 2.0", suggesting that the changes would be bringing significant changes to the functioning of the company's retail stores.

Image
Stocks of iPad 2s waiting for on-floor deployment at Apple retail store​

AppleInsider now appears to be filling in the picture with a new report claiming that Apple retail stores have received shipments of dozens of iPads that appear to be destined for on-floor staff usage and are said to be set to be equipped with a new version of the company's "RetailMe" software to support the rollout.The new RetailMe software offering product information and training materials for sales staff is said to potentially be the subject of the "gigabytes" of training data previously claimed to be scheduled for download to Apple's stores on Saturday, although that theory has yet to be confirmed.

Article Link: Weekend Retail Store Meetings Related to New iPad-Focused Staff Software?
Click to expand...

They've been using iPads in the Vancouver store for ages...

Is this really news?

Cheers,
Cameron
 
Full of Win said:
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)

A few changes I would suggest
1. Instruct employees how to shave and keep a neat appearance
2. Improve on the 30 to 45 minutes they are running late for appointments.
3. Block Facebook from store computers.
Click to expand...

Isn't FaceBook already blocked?
 
Full of Win said:
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)

A few changes I would suggest
1. Instruct employees how to shave and keep a neat appearance
2. Improve on the 30 to 45 minutes they are running late for appointments.
3. Block Facebook from store computers.
Click to expand...


Asking a hipster to shave his beard is like knocking Thor's hammer out of his hand! How dare you!
 
Full of Win said:
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)

A few changes I would suggest
1. Instruct employees how to shave and keep a neat appearance
2. Improve on the 30 to 45 minutes they are running late for appointments.
3. Block Facebook from store computers.
Click to expand...

Pretty ironic, judging by your avatar image. Where's the freedom gone? Instruct? Block? That's a tea party?
 
Really?!?!?

Black curtains. Phone ban. 7am meetings. I don't think it's just a run of the mill operating change. :apple:
 
Fair enough, if 9 to 5 Mac's scoop proves to be legit then I can see why Apple will go to all this secrecy and keep it a big surprise. If it's just for iPads to be handed to staff to makes sales easier then, well, meh.
 
"Symmetrical Device Stacking. Just like the Apple mass internal training of 2010."

"You're right, no human being would stack iPads like this."
 
I am little disappointed in the iShelving used in the Apple Store. I would have expected something a little more non-conventional.

Wow I have too much free time.
 
Blakjack said:
I agree. There has to be more to this. The need to order black curtains for every store and hide just this doesn't make sense.
Click to expand...

Well when you add in POS changes, signage etc... Yeah, that FOES justify the secrecy. Lets not forget here that Apple are seen as a leader in retail the same way they are in, say, phones and their competitors would love to get advance warning of what they're up to with a large scale revamp.
 
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