Jamba Juice tested video iPods in June for about eight weeks in eight stores in San Francisco. The test centered on a promotion in which customers purchasing smoothies could buy a baked good for a dollar. The employees watched the training video, which showed them how to upsell the promotion, on the iPod.

Jamba Juice considered the iPod to be an ideal vehicle for training. The company's young work force was already familiar with it. In addition, because there is only one computer in each store, it wasn't always easy for employees to watch training videos housed on the company's intranet. So the iPod allowed employees to watch the five-minute video at their convenience.

After testing the iPods, Jamba Juice found training time was shortened. Previously managers spent 30 minutes to an hour training employees on the new promotion. With the iPod, employees watched the five-minute video. Then the manager asked them three questions about the promotion and observed them during their shift, correcting them if needed.

Another benefit was that the stores with the iPods sold 2 to 3 percent more smoothies with baked goods than the stores that didn't use the iPods.

Despite the success of the test, Jamba Juice is not sure if it will continue to use the iPods. The company is concerned about the iPods getting lost or stolen, even though it didn't lose any during the test. Because Jamba is upgrading its technology infrastructure this year, it is looking into whether it should add another computer to each store rather than buying several iPods, which cost about $250 each.

“We're costing that out now,” says Kevin Peterson, senior manager of learning and development. “Because we can use [the extra computer] for a lot of other things that an iPod can't be used for like systems training.”

MORE: Restaurant chain Marco's Pizza enhances its training program with an online, interactive, animation-based component.