IKEA & Verdana -- Does anyone here care?  

bad move
Verdana = Wal-Mart version of Helvetica, the design classic.
Reminds me when Dwell decided to "update" their typeface choices as well.... I no longer subscribe after being a charter member since almost the beginning.
WHen design related companies make such an oversight in their own branding, design centered customers lose faith/interest/respect....

But
We are talking about IKEA.
IKEA previously used its own version of Futura.
From the article:
"The idsgn blog contains images of company logos and brands that have embraced Futura: Absolut, Domino's, Best Buy, Costco, Red Bull."
Not sure that is exactly stellar design-oriented company to keep.....

Disagree
I must respectfully disagree with you Whitespike - Arial is the Wal-Mart version of Helvetica, ripped off by Microsoft to avoid paying royalties. (see below) Verdana is a brilliant font specifically in it's complete lack of character.
Matthew Carter is the last and the best of the old guard typographers, and possibly the best living typographer today. His professional career has spanned the transition from relief print into flat print (lithography, etc) into digital, and he is one of the first people to recognize the distinct differences between screen type and printed.
Enter Verdana. It has advantages over Helvetica in that it is a semi-serif font - the lowercase 'i' and the lowercase 'l' have serifs added to distinguish them from the upper cased versions. It is extraordinarily versatile between screen and can be printed very small while still retaining it's readability.
IKEA's decision to use Verdana is admirable - it is probably the most versatile typeface presently used. Does that make it interesting or 'designy'? Not in the superficial sense, and that seems to be the uproar.
Verdana's sole purpose is to convey information, without wit, charm, or flourish. It's not the fonts fault that Ikea chose it, altho it does seem an appropriate application given their public reasoning.
What seems to be the problem is that people expect 'design' to always incorporate some sort of statement. What does your font say about you? In this case the statement is the anti-statment - that function is more important than form.
Lovely sentiment, albeit a bit wishful thinking given IKEA's quality.
(and quick PS - Carter also designed Georgia, the font used by the NYT's website)

I liked "Ikea Sans" more,
but I find Verdana to be a perfectly agreeable typeface.

.
I too know next to nothing about graphic design but...er know what I like. Was encouraged to use Verdana when learning to build websites and though I could understand the reasnoning I never liked it, no particular reason, it was just a bit dull and fat.
I'll have Helvetica (...is the neue black) or a touch of the Rotis plague thanks!

Verdana is my font of choice
for listing on eBay, but the choice is quite limited

Agree and Desagree
I Agree and Desagree.
Verdana is a wonderful typeface designed by one of the great masters of typography, Matthew Carter.
BUT, this font was mainly designed for screen viewing. Although it prints well it's main use is on the screen and it works like a charm along with its companion Georgia. Better than most screen faces.
But I personally wouldn't use it for professional printing. I use it for most websites.

Frutiger condensed for print
In my work I create many copy-dense tables and descriptions. For print I use Frutiger condensed because I can fit quite a lot of text in small spaces while having it still be readable.
Don't know of a good condensed, readable font for Web, do you?

Yes, literally speaking...
Yes, literally speaking Arial is the faux Helvetica. I should have been more careful with my words - but Verdana, while it was designed by the great Carter, is definitely not a font that I personally like.
While I don't think typefaces must necessarily exude the personality of the word they spell, I do think they should have their own personality to an extent. Helvetica in my opinion definitely has personality - the right amount - that doesn't intrude on the words themselves.

Trust me
Trust me - not saying anyone needs to love Verdana. I just find it funny that so many people are complaining of it's lack of design sensibility.
I was at a party with Matthew once. A graphic design friend of mine was perched on an ottoman at his feet gushing about her favorite letterform - the uppercased Q - and how sensual it could be. He replied that one should be careful not to be seduced by such forms, that the real language of a font is hidden in the boring, work-about letters - the h, the n, the m.
I'd say that's the situation with IKEA - that folks get lost in the flair, rather than the function. Sadly I think the same is true in myriad other cases of font-crime. Most notorious being Comic Sans, a font so ubiquitously misused that the only solution is to ban it completly. Or so some people think 🙂
http://bancomicsans.com/

Sorry
I am on board with banning Comic Sans.

Where to start?
I am a total neophyte regarding typeface, fonts and letter forms.
Might some of you suggest some books for the beginner?

Start here, bustelo.
Exploring Typography, by Tova Rabinowitz
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1401815057