iPhone: Genius Bars Could Eventually Provide iCloud Restore for Hardware Replacements

iPhone

Genius Bars Could Eventually Provide iCloud Restore for Hardware Replacements Apr 19th 2012, 13:02 Discovering that your iOS device has to be replaced due to a hardware defect can often be troubling, especially in the case of the iPhone. A new report claims that Apple Store Geniuses may soon provide a solution to getting these users back to normal. 9to5Mac is reporting that Apple may be planning an interesting new tweak to their Genius Bars, centered on customers whose hardware needs to be replaced. While most of us are using iCloud to back up our iOS devices these days, waiting until you get back home to restore may soon be a thing of the past. "Currently being prototyped inside of Apple's top-secret 'future' Apple Store labs near the company's headquarters, a place where peaks into Apple's retail future have leaked from in the past, is a wireless server system for Genius Bars that will automatically, securely, and temporarily store user content," the report reveals. The idea is simple: A user comes in for Genius Bar system and discovers their hardware is defective. No problem, the Genius swaps it out for a working unit and use a mirrored version of your iCloud backup stored on the retail store's server to restore the new device to its former glory, after which your data will be wiped from the server. While this may sound exactly like what iCloud was created for in the first place, keep in mind that restoring from the service is a long process as all of that data gets pulled down from the cloud -- even over a faster home broadband modem. Geniuses need to be able to quickly solve a customer's problem and move on to the next one, so local backups appear to be one proposed solution. "The system is still in very early stages of testing, and many retail projects inside of Apple's labs never see the light of day," the report concludes. "However, if this system is ever launched, Apple is planning to pilot the system in select stores by mid-2013. A full scale launch, if Apple is content with the system's performance and usage, should occur later that year." Follow this article's author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

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