Folks who came to two Apple stores in New York City to find out what was on the iPad got their answer this week.
Reps from a local newspaper had swabbed some demo iPads (a total of four, two from each of two NYC stores), then sent the swabs to a New Jersey lab for testing and analysis. The answer to what was on the iPads? Dirt, grime, and a variety of bacteria (some of it potentially dangerous).
An Apple spokeswoman said they clean their products and their stores regularly during the day, but some customers were unimpressed. One had a suggestion: "Why can't they contact Martha Stewart and have her come to the stores and give all the demo iPads a good scrub? Or maybe Mr. Clean is available?" Another customer was philosophical about the situation, saying, "Well, I'm buying an iPad, so even if I get infected from the demo model, I can always go home, then use my own device to find out what I need to do to handle the infection. No sweat."
Spoof reporter Gail Farrelly, assigned to the Kindle beat, figured it would be interesting to know what Amazon Kindles (rivals of the iPad) thought of the situation regarding the dirty demos. Farrelly contacted Head Kindle Hedda, who offered a one-word response: "Yuck."
