VA McDonald's Equips Tables With Free-To-Use iPads

It's not a new concept, throwing iPads into seats at eateries. There's an entire wing of LGA airport in New York where those dining can order on an iPad, but that's not too shocking; after all, it's an airport. It needs iPads to help you forget about the pain of air travel these days. But a place like McDonald's seems like the last place on Earth where you'd find iPads for consumers to use. Yet, one particular McDonald's restaurant in Virginia Beach, VA is giving the whole idea a whirl. While many of the company's stores have offered free Wi-Fi to customers, iPads are evidently the next logical step. And yes, they'll be mounted up to use for free.

Four tables in total have an iPad mounted on a stand. Users can apply their greasy fingers to the screen in order to check Facebook or play Angry Birds, but it doesn't appear possible to order more food right from the table. What's interesting is that McDonald's thrives on keeping customers rolling in and out, but having an iPad on the table will no doubt keep people around longer. In places like NYC, this situation probably wouldn't work, but at less popular stores it may be a draw to bring in more regular customers.


What do you think? Should tablets come to more fast food eateries? Or is this an example of technology infringing upon one of the few places where we could actually break away from it?