Exclusive: Apple is reportedly calling all of its retail store employees to a top secret, all hands on deck meeting tomorrow at 7AM to train them on the iPad, and will possibly involve each team member receiving a 16GB WiFi iPad.
Rumors that Apple might hand out iPads to its retail employees first appeared during a corporate town hall meeting with Ron Johnson (the company’s Senior Vice President of Retail Operations), where the subject was casually mentioned but not confirmed, one person familiar with Apple’s retail operations said. Apple previously assigned its employees free iPhones and iPod touches.
A second person reported that the iPad retail launch will begin with an overnight security patrol to monitor each store’s inventory, which will continue even after a manager and team of five to ten employees begin the day at 3AM. A third person confirmed that the reports are consistent with Apple’s other product launches, adding that "security guards are routine for a product launch, with the guards partly there to handle the waiting lines."
Leave your stuff at home?
When all other employees arrive at 7AM (everyone is scheduled to work a full day tomorrow), they’ll be required to sign an non-disclosure agreement and hand in their iPhones to management before entering the building.
"This is the first time in retail history that employees had to hand in their iPhones (or normal phones) to prevent any leaks on launch day," the original source reported to AppleInsider. That suggests that there’s possibly "one more thing" on the iPad that nobody’s yet aware of, and that Apple doesn’t want to leak until the lines are formed and the media shows up to cover the iPad launch event.
However, a confirming source said that "employees are usually encouraged not to bring their laptops, iPods and iPhones to the store during their shift, so handing them over isn’t such a big deal–most won’t bring anything.
"I have heard nothing about giving out a free iPad to employees, although that’s been done with the iPod and iPhone," the source said. "I believe there’s some continued employment requirement after receiving the device (have to be there 6 months or 1 year after receiving it?). I can confirm the 7AM training sessions and that everyone will work until 10AM. At that point, part-time employees who were scheduled to work later in the day go home, and then come back for their later shift."
Update 1: A fourth retail source reports: "I’m a former Apple Genius with many ties to retail. Employees were never given iPod touches, just iPhones, and you were only given an iPhone if you were a full-time employee or had been part-time for at least a year.
Read more: AppleInsider.com
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