iStore’s iPad Pro demo presentation was iDontKnow

The Apple iStore Zambia outlet had invitations sent out to guests and media houses for them to experience a live demonstration of their latest iPad Pro. I expected a very hands-on event filled with the latest features of the iPad Pro. My hopes were crushed in the first minutes, as the screen in front us showed a slideshow of a presentation most guests had already seen online before. To make it worse the presenter clearly did not know how to use the Macbook with the presentation. There was also the constant use of the term ‘This Thing’ to refer to the iPad Pro,  which must NEVER be done when you’re trying to sell to a crowd.

You know things are heading south, when the audience is correcting the presenter on the features of the device, or start having mini-conversations bored by the information they were (not?) getting.

It took a glass of strong red wine to calm my shock. It could have been nerves that led to such a bad marketing presentation, or it could have been that the presenter was not ready, but I have some advice from attending SO MANY tech events:

• Know the product inside out and master the features by heart. Working with the device means you get a lot of questions from customers. Keep those FAQs as a guide to explaining the device’s features when making your presentation because if one person asks about something, trust me, another person will.
• Rehearse talking points. You can plan to present on ‘The 10 great things about the product’. It will be simpler, faster and won’t take up a red wine glass of time to present.
• Use the real product to explain the features that it comes with. People are disconnected from pictures. If you can, use more videos than still images as these are more graphic in explanation.

That one presentation gave me the impression that the iPad Pro is difficult to use, even if it isn’t; because of the way the presenters struggled with it. It looks like a great device for people who need the features of a Macbook and iPad in one. It’s great for business as it comes with Microsoft applications like Word and Excel, and has a large clear screen with over 5.6 million pixels for lovers of detail in imagery or video. I’d recommend it for creatives, which could have been the angle of the iStore presentation, just as Apple itself sells it on its own website.

Here are all the notable specifications:

Dimensions and weight	305.7 x 220.6 x 6.9 mm and 713g
Screen size and pixels	12.9 inches with 2048 x 2732 pixels
Processor, operating system and RAM	A9X chip with 64‑bit architecture M9 motion coprocessor
Memory	32 or 128 GB variants
Operating System	iOS 9
Display	12.9-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit widescreen Multi-Touch display 2732-by-2048 resolution at 264 pixels per inch (ppi) Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating Fully laminated display Antireflective coating
Camera	8MP iSight back camera, 1.2MP front snapper
Battery	38.5-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi‑Fi, watching video, or listening to music

iStore is selling the iPad Pro at the following prices:

• 32GB WiFi only – K11,500
• 128GB WiFi only – K13,600
• 128Gb Wifi and cellular – K 15,400

You can add-on accessories like the Apple Smart Keyboard for K2,700 and the Apple Pencil at K1,100.