The next time you stop by New York’s LaGuardia airport, or Minneapolis’ St. Paul International or Canada’s Toronto Pearson International airport, do not be surprised if you find a bunch of iPads out on display and free to use. This is a move by OTG Management, a company known for running airport eateries, who will be distributing about 2,500 iPads for use. Like we said earlier, these iPads will be free to use but they will be locked to the tables and will have its software locked as well. This means that users will only be able to access the tablet’s most basic functions such as web surfing, game playing and Facebook checking amongst other features.
According to OTG Management’s CEO Rick Blatstein, the reason they chose the iPad was because it was a familiar device to many, and apart from their goal of hoping to usher customers to their restaurants, they are also hoping that the iPads will allow angry and harried passengers to feel “calm and connected”. At the moment the iPads are being tested at New York’s JFK and LaGuardia airports and are expected to roll out to Minneapolis and Toronto’s airports over the next 12-18 months. Blatstein has also stated that his company plans to purchase 25,000-100,000 more iPads as they expand to the rest of the airports in the US in the future, but no word if other airports in Canada besides Toronto will be receiving the same treatment as well.
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