My ipad 3 and iphone 4s did the same thing, I did a network settings reset then turned both devices off for a few minutes and now they are both working normally. I have Cable internet not U-verse or Direct TV
I think the reason for the attempt to load the apple screen is because once ios 6 is installed you'll find a lot of apps will need updating. All of my apple apps (ibooks, pages, cards, etc..) all needed upgrading.
Im guessing the app store is overloaded with users cause it took a long time to update the apps.