Apple is going to release a machine – Presto – that will allow retail store employees to update the in-box iPhones without taking them out of the box. When you buy a new iPhone that's been in the box for a while, perhaps the few 15 minutes or so that you have to wait for it to update before you can start playing around with it are the most testing.
With this new machine, which has been glimpsed in from a report by the French publication iGeneration, store employees can update 6 iPhones in one go without unboxing them. The machines look something like a toaster and can be stacked on top of each other.
It probably uses MagSafe and wireless technologies, and NFC is possibly involved too, to turn on the iPhones in the box, apply the software updates, and turn off the iPhone. There are also reports that Presto is connected to specific Apple servers that will allow it to access software updates 24 hours ahead of their general release.
But the technologies it really is using are merely speculations at this point. Users are waiting for Apple to make things clearer and the company probably will, after the device is more widely deployed.
Presto is in limited testing in the US stores currently, with other countries, like France, starting to get the machine as well. Apple is planning a wide deployment for April.
So, probably after April, if you get a new iPhone, you won't have to wait in the store to update it to the latest version. However, this release is not something that's going to be too exciting for end users.
Most users don't wait around in the store to update their iPhones. They either go home (where they can connect to their reliable Wi-Fi), or they have their phones shipped to their homes in the first place anyway.
But if you're someone who's really annoyed by the 15-20 minutes you have to spend on updating a new iPhone, well, Apple now has a solution for you.
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