Leah McCann Smith | Writer & Editor

That’s A LOT of iPads. Let’s be real—that may seem kind of ridiculous. But okay, upon further reflection, and by experiencing the iPad frenzy firsthand, I’ll admit that there are some interesting qualities to the Delta upgrade at Terminals C and D at LGA.

The iPad isn’t a brand new product, but it sure has leveraged enough share of voice to make an impression. Big enough to partner with OTG Management, the airport restaurant company that owns and operates all the concessions in Terminals C and D (source: New York Times), in placing 2,500 iPads throughout them. This brings up some curious and critical thoughts for the future of the tablet industry as well as how we consume media.

I’m going to give you a run-through of how OTG, Apple and Delta pulled this off by sharing my own personal experience at the terminal. I’ll include some shots of how it worked and some pros and cons I saw with the experience.

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First off, my initial thought from the ungodly amount of iPads was a positive impression. I was impressed from the sheer number of iPads Apple and OTG placed in the terminal, which isn’t exactly large in space or departure gates. It wasn’t like there were just a few iPads here and there…They literally existed in every lounging space in the terminal (with a few exceptions, which I’ll note later). The first important pro to note is the opportunity this provides to Apple by leveraging thousands of new users each day to their tablet product. Thousands of people who would never dream of buying a tablet (why would I buy an iPad when I have a cell phone with data and a laptop?). This campaign is targeting those exact people. I’ll admit, I was a huge skeptic at first. I had the same thoughts and even felt those with an iPad or tablet were a little excessive. But I’ll also be the first to admit – the iPad is a beautiful thing. I have a mini, and though I was surprised Apple chose to use the regular size iPad in the terminal instead of pushing the mini, I saw the benefit after using the product myself.

Thousands of users are getting free introductions to the iPad right at their (and Apple’s) convenience. It’s almost a little overwhelming, whether you want to use the iPad or not, it’s right in front of you so why not, right? I witnessed this in the terminal and even overheard a few saying, “This is my first time on one of these things.”

The iPads provide a distraction from airplane wait time (good for Delta) and often a stress reducer for those in limbo between flights. My mother and I arrived 1.5 hours early for our flight, so I will say, having a place to kill the time was extra special. Forget that whole conversing with humans thing, right?…

From the iPads, you get free WiFi and can search any website, but the tablet is conveniently pre-set with social media apps as well as apps to order food and drinks right from where you’re sitting in the terminal.

Convenience is one thing this partnership upholds. When first using the iPad, you enter your flight information and the tablet will provide notifications with flight updates (gate changes, time until board, reminders, etc.) Flight updates are a feature I found most useful, so that I could stay constantly connected to my flight info and be reminded about time until boarding without getting too distracted by surfing the web.

Good privacy: The iPad signed me out of the social media apps after I was finished.

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To every good side, there are always improvements that can be made!

This only bothered me because I am too familiar with my own Apple iPad, computer, iPhone and Apple TV (okay, I’m an Apple junkie, I’ll admit…) but on the LGA iPads, I could not open multiple tabs or pages.

2,500 iPads with thousands of passengers through the terminal each day likely doesn’t provide for the most sanitary of situations. Especially because people are ordering food right from the iPads, eating with them and continuing to use the devices.

It was cool having an iPad in almost every space in the terminal (people wouldn’t get left out from a shortage of tablets, right?) but I noticed that there was such little lounging space that there really weren’t a whole lot of places to sit without an iPad in front of you.

For instance, I saw quite a few people sitting where the iPads were but not actively using them, but had less space for their own belongings or were not able to lounge on couches like in other terminals.

I also noted the iPad placement made it difficult for those with disabilities to find space to wait for their flights. Crowding I saw was also an issue.

Personal iPads don’t have this home screen, and it was a little confusing, even for me (a heavy Apple user, as you probably gathered). Especially for new users, this could be a turn-off.

Cool, so now what?

Here are the benefits I see from the swanky partnership:

1. More money spent in between flight times (food, drinks, etc.)

2. More customer satisfaction for Delta with de-stressed and distracted customers.

3. More awareness for the Delta terminal at LGA, OTG Management and the Apple iPad.

Here’s the catch: The iPads are new, shiny and well-working now. The question is, how long will that last and when will the technical difficulties start kicking in?…

Regardless, cool experience. Overall, very positive, and kudos to Apple for tapping into this network firsthand.

See you soon, New York!

By: Leah McCann