14 DAY TRIAL // A ‘RetailMe’ iPad containing internal applications and tools prepared for the rumored Apple Store 2.0 unveiling has been leaked, with one ‘reliable’ source informing that OS X Lion will play a role at whatever festivities Apple has in mind for the weekend.
As reported over the past week, Apple is rumored to be planning a major retail overhaul amid its stores’ tenth anniversary.
People familiar with Apple’s initiative have said the company sent shipments of customized iPad 2 units to all its retail stores loaded with training software and special documentation to get staff ready for a major event set to kick of Sunday, May 22.
Mac-centric blog 9to5mac.com claims to have obtained one such iPad 2 which, according to one of its authors, is imaged with: RetailMe, Apple Connect, Apple Directory, Concierge, and the Easy Pay application.
The tablets also have The Daily Download installed on them - an internal Daily ‘newspaper for employees’ described as being “incredibly stylish” and “functional.”
As the Apple Store 2.0 rumors unfolded, one source claimed Apple had prepared vast amounts of ‘training’ data for the Sunday event.
According to the blog’s own source, the data is mostly OS X Lion, Apple’s forthcoming desktop OS.
Employees will reportedly need to download and install the software on display machines:
“The ‘gigs of data’ for sunday [sic], as far as I can tell from the general consensus around the store and some of my contacts is that we will infact [sic] be downloading OS X Lion images and installing on all FOH machines for a Sunday launch,” said the source.
“Nothing else fits since all other visual content has already been pulled from the apple [sic] servers that we gather content from,” this person allegedly told 9to5.
The source stressed that “Lion is the mutual feeling around the store, even from managers,” who seem to be the only ones that have been given “a general idea” about what’s going down this weekend.
The managers will be fully briefed Friday evening, this person said.