– What is it?
Ordering off an iPad at the airport is an experience. You are able to look at a list of participating restaurants, choose food and beverage items, and order them directly to your table. You must be sitting at a table with one of the designated airport iPads in order to use the service.
– Why do you think it’s desirable? Do your best to explain what you think works or not about it psychologically or emotionally for people who are fans of it?
This is desirable for a few reasons. Firstly, the groggy airport traveler likely appreciates not having to talk to another person in order to complete their order. Traveling on an airplane can be very tiring and sometimes you just want to sit alone afterward. In addition to the tiredness comes laziness. The iPad allows you to order from any participating restaurant without having to get up and walk over. Additionally, usually at the airport after you order food, you have to stand around waiting for the restaurant to give you the food. The iPad ordering station allows you to sit during this process.
– Mention how your review compares to the previous reviewer
The previous reviewer experienced this type of ordering recently and thus was able to comment on some of the accessible games on the iPad, as well as its ability to surf the web. The last time I used this service, it would only allow you to order food, thus I focused on the benefit of this experience specifically.
– Copy the previous reviewer response below yours
In Laguardia Aiport this past weekend, I sat down to eat a quick meal in what is becoming a more standard way of ordering food in airports – via an iPad at your seat. The iPad contained all restaurant functionality allowing you to order food, drinks, and even duty-free items (all replete with both pictures as well as descriptions), without having to wait for a waiter, making the process much more seamless and efficient. The option to order directly for checkout was also quite convenient. Afterwards, you could then use the iPad to surf the web and find out airport / flight info. In general, the ease of ordering instantly and removing the middleman strikes me as the way of the future, although supplying that many iPads and docks is fairly capital intensive. What I was particularly impressed with, however, was the mini-game option that popped up after ordering.
The mini-game was a simple “find the shape that’s not like the others,” which was great and a fun way to kill a little time. After sucking you in, however, the app then gave you the option of paying $2 dollars to try and solve 5 more puzzles in a limited amount of time (under 18 seconds), and if you could do it you’d get your meal free. I love the psychology behind this: they’re targeting an already bored and somewhat distracted audience looking for entertainment, using a great trigger of a pop-up directly after you’ve ordered (my exact thought process, which I’d imagine is exactly what they’re looking for, was “wow that meal was kind of expensive…but I must be better at these mini games then most people maybe I can earn it all back”). Moreover, since the machine already had my credit card information the effort it took for me to engage and play the game was extremely minimal, and made me inclined to play it a few more times before realizing I was throwing money down the drain.
– Choose and image to add to your post (either use the image from the original post or select an image of the product from the internet)
