In Madrid, iPads loaded with tourist friendly apps available for hire

PadInTheCity rents out iPads preloaded with apps that are designed to help sightseers explore.

We’ve already seen mobile technology employed to enhance the tourist experience when we covered the Liberty Guide location-aware audio guides last year, but now we’ve come across an example that aims to be on hand throughout a travelers entire stay in a new city. Visitors to Madrid can now hire iPads from PadInTheCity, a new company that is loading up the devices with useful apps designed to help sightseers explore. Customers begin by visiting the PadInTheCity website and selecting the days on which they would like to hire an iPad. PadInTheCity has preloaded the tablets with apps that it hopes will empower tourists to get the most out of their holiday, including Metro Madrid, Weather HD, City Maps 2Go, Emergency Numbers, iTranslate, and Prado Museum Audioguide, as well as the Angry Birds app to help travelers pass the time on coach trips. As well as catering for individuals and families, PadInTheCity offers rentals to hotels and corporate events organizers, who can implement their own branding and apps. The iPads can be delivered to any specified location, costing EUR 25 per day after a EUR 390 deposit. Currently the service only operates in Madrid. With that in mind, is this one to partner with to help expand to other cities? Spotted by: Borja Domínguez Fernández