By: Aseem Gaurav on August 31, 2011
iPads. They're flashy. They're fun to play with. And they are finding their way into airplanes, schools, colleges, taxis, laboratories and supermarkets.
UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's will soon start offering shopping carts to customers with a built-in iPad dock and speakers. That’s right, it means that you can shop and watch TV at the same time.
The supermarket is testing the trolleys in its Cromwell Road branch in Kensington.
The trolleys are being developed by broadcaster Sky so as to promote its Sky Go service, which allows Sky TV customers to watch live sport on their mobile devices. These iCarts also has a battery which takes power by solar panels so there is no need to worry about iPad losing battery. Apart from this, it also has a sensor up front which will sound an alarm in case you reach too close to anyone while staring in either direction.
"It is a great idea for sports fans to keep up to date with the latest sports news whenever and wherever they are," said Holly Knill, head of Sky Go.
But is it a good idea? Well, nothing can be said as of now as these hi-tech trolleys are still in the implementation process. One thing is sure that the service will keep the consumers entertained but it is hard to say whether it will make consumers shelling out more in the shopping mall or not.
Whatever be the case, the fact that iPads are increasingly finding their way into many different fields that you can imagine.
The computer tablet is already the King in the segment with more than 80 per cent share. Apple is believed to ship 60 million units of these tablets in 2011, which the analysts expect to continue for the next few years.
