They Gave Me Free Apps

I'm told by an IT tech friend of mine that not all 16Gb White iPad Minis are created equal, and I know this to be true, though as to the reason for it, I'll have to take their word for it, namely that different retailers have different deals with Apple. When I bought my iPad Mini, from John Lewis, I was offered a bundle of free apps the first time I logged into my iTunes account, whereas when another family member recently bought an iPad Mini from Argos, they got Jack Shit by way of freebies. I'm told this is probably because John Lewis (lovely company!) has negotiated a deal with Apple that gets their customers some free apps and a decent three-pin charger plug; the Argos iPad Mini came with an el-cheapo plug.

So, what did I get?

Pages, iPhoto, Keynote, Garage Band, Find iPhone, Find My Friends, iTunesU, Numbers, iBooks, Podcasts, and iMovie. Not bad for nowt, eh?

And how many of the free apps have I kept?

Answer: most of them! That's not really a fair answer. I've kept those apps that I can see may be immediately useful, or that I perceive to have future potential. It's probably easier to run through the apps I deleted, and why.

Garage Band - I didn't keep it as I'm only ever musical after eating beans, and whilst the basic app is free, getting a complete set of instruments requires some fairly hefty (by the time you add them up) in-app purchases. It was fun to play with the basic instrument set, but it's gone now.

iTunesU - Great idea and something I may come back to in the future, perhaps, possibly, should I be in the market for a free educational course. For the time being I can put the space in memory to better use, so it's gone.

Find My Friends - Stalk your mates online using this handy app, just remember to turn on Location Services on your iPad so they can stalk you back. Err, no thanks. Binned. I'll need a compelling reason to put this one back on my iPad.

So there you have it. By way of a summary, it's worth considering John Lewis if you're in the market for an iPad Mini, though of course this comes with the caveat that your mileage may vary; I don't know how long the free apps deal will run for, and please, don't blame me if you don't get any freebies, I was truly flabbergasted, having seen nothing on the website about it when I ordered.

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