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News Archive |
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Wednesday, 30 April 2008
LOUISVILLE, Colo. — KIOSK Information Systems has taken an aggressive stance in doing business internationally in 2008, tripling its list of authorized kiosk distributors, according to a news release.
According to Dan Stewart, KIOSK’s international sales director, “Adding qualified distributors to compliment our pre-existing network and increase our representation on a global basis has been a top priority in 2007 and 2008. KIOSK’s reputation for quality and expertise in the self-service market has grown well beyond the U.S. market. By expanding our international distributor base, we’re significantly impacting the ease of implementing international deployments.”
Stewart added, “KIOSK’s proven expertise in such a vast array of vertical markets holds universal appeal to customers as they enter into their self-service projects. By providing quality KIOSK representation with distributors who add regional business culture expertise, we’ve been able to seamlessly implement every aspect of an international deployment — from financing and hardware design to application development and field services.”
KIOSK’s authorized distributor list has grown to currently include:
- Brazil - Ideas2Go
- Caribbean, Central, South America – Boxtite Systems Technology
- Columbia - Xchange Agent, Inc.
- Mexico – NBVO
- Venezuela – Harps / Go2 Pay
- Canada – Luge Promotions
- UAE - Aptec
- UAE - MXN
- Jordan – GESCO
- Kuwait - KTS
- U.K. - Kiosk Manufacturing, Ltd.
- U.K. - Amatica
- Ghana – Hubble Security Systems
- Nigeria – Cirrus Nigeria, Ltd.
- South Africa – Kiosk Africa
KIOSK has consistently been experiencing double-digit growth rates, and is coming off the strongest sales year in its 15 year history. In addition to natural market growth and demand, KIOSK attributes competitive pricing, international service capability and current exchange rates as strong contributors to international sales demand.
For more on KIOSK Information Systems' growth, check out SelfService.org's coverage of their KioskCom booth.
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Source Technologies, a provider of integrated solutions for managing financial transactions and other secure business processes, has announced it received its ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 9001 certification, a global standard for quality management practices. ISO, a network of the national standards bodies of 157 countries, is the world's largest developer and publisher of international standards for business, government and society.
The certification is given to organizations of all kinds that meet or exceed the ISO 9001 requirements for planning systems and process controls necessary to continuously provide improved customer satisfaction. With more than 17,000 international standards on a variety of subjects, ISO assesses companies' processes, training and the tools used to ensure the best methods for ongoing customer satisfaction.
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
MEQUON, Wis. — D2 Sales LLC has announced in a news release that Vanderbilt University Medical Center of Nashville, Tenn., has chosen the My Patient Passport Express kiosk for its patient check-in program.
The My Patient Passport Express kiosk allows patients to check-in, make future appointments, and update their medical history, all using a user-friendly touchscreen kiosk with HIPPA-compliant custom privacy overlay. Patients can use their credit card to make co-pay payments, and sign documents using the integrated electronic signature pad.
“The kiosk allows our clients to provide outstanding patient care and service, while at the same time improving efficiency for the medical facility,” said Sandra Nix, D2’s CEO.
The D2 My Patient Passport Express kiosk provides patients with the convenience of easy check-in, records updating, co-pay payment acceptance and wayfinding and mapping features.
Monday, 28 April 2008
ESSEN, Germany — VeriFone, a secure electronic payment solutions provider, will be hosting a drop-in Security Advisory Clinic May 6 at Kiosk Europe 2008. Visitors to the show can pick up a step-by-step guide to payment security and best practices and receive one-to-one advice and information about practical procedures that can be implemented to maintain security.
At the event, VeriFone will be exhibiting its latest unattended payment systems, the OP 4100 and OP 3100, which are deployed across a wide variety of retail settings, including supermarkets, ticketing environments and pay-at-the-pump stations across Europe. The VeriFone team will discuss how unattended payment systems can increase customer throughput and loyalty.
Also on display will be the MX860, a wide-screen, consumer-facing PIN pad which is used as both a PIN pad and customer messaging station. It features fast processing speeds and large memory, making it an ideal solution for busy retail environments with high volume lanes. The large full-color display is suitable for interactive displays and signature capture as well as providing a quick and easy method of payment. Combined with VeriFone’s PAYware software, the MX860 can also double as an interactive customer service point.
New to VeriFone is its latest contactless payment solution, the QX120. The QX120 supports all major contactless payment schemes, including those initiated from mobile phones using the emerging Near Field Communications, or NFC standard. The ultra thin QX120 can be connected to a stand-alone payment device or integrated POS system to provide contactless acceptance capability.
Monday, 28 April 2008
AVinteractive.co.uk: London visitors can now visit the capital’s sights from the Tower Bridge Exhibition. A series of touchscreens which allow visitors to locate, virtually visit and learn about the city’s sights have been installed in the high level walkways across the bridge.
Read more
Monday, 28 April 2008
The Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas became the epicenter of the self-service and digital signage industries two weeks ago as thousands of professionals gathered to seek, share and compare at KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show.
The shows, abuzz with educational sessions, networking opportunities, special speakers and exhibit floor activity, were fueled by limitless planning, consideration of the tiniest details and the ultimately important execution of ideas.
Behind the curtain, juggling the strings, was Lawrence Dvorchik, general manager of the shows. Self-Service World spoke with Dvorchik shortly before the shows opened to find out what it's like to prepare such an event and what makes it a success.
SSW: What is the purpose of creating an industry-specific trade show?
LD: We created it a long time ago. We started in 1997. It was very much to meet a need for a niche that wasn't being met. There was no big business in it. Very few people even knew what it was, let alone started talking about it.
SSW: What was that first show like?
LD: It was much more of an educational show. About 100 attendees, there were maybe 10 or 11 exhibitors and it was very much about education. It wasn't the business it is now. Very few were successful. We tried to educate about best practices.
SSW: Compare that to the last show.
LD: There is no comparison. The last show was 200-plus exhibitors, 3,000-plus people and it's just a whole different ball game. It's still about the content and it's still about providing the right education but there's so much more that goes into it now than there was before. There's a lot more detail behind it. There's a lot more to consider and ways to make it a successful event for everybody from the exhibitors, to the attendees, to the speakers, to other stake holders who are there.
SSW: With the new digital signage show, is it double the work?
LD: Not really double the work. It brings a different type of work into it because every market has its own nuances, special things to pay attention to. You're still doing a lot of the same activities, you just have to focus on what makes each one unique and special and go about it that way. Is it double the work? It could be. It's definitely more work.
SSW: How long does it take to plan and produce a show?
LD: We spend a full year. We've already started for Vegas next year. Our New York event, we're still knee-deep in that at the same time we're running this one. It's not, "Hey, we should just pick it up and start now."
SSW: What's the most challenging aspect of putting on a trade show?
LD: A big challenge always is drawing in the right attendees. A trade show is only as good as the attendees it brings in. That's really what it's about. It's about the interaction between the attendee and the exhibitor and helping to facilitate that interaction and those discussions.
SSW: Are the attendees important to the exhibitors as well as their fellow attendees?
LD: Yes, because the fellow attendees want to see as many like-minded colleagues as they can, and to have the opportunity to network with people who have the same issues they face. They want to talk to people who have been in the same boat as them and people with whom they can compare experiences.
SSW: How do you overcome the challenge of bringing in the right people?
LD: We spend a lot of time determining who the right people are. We spend a lot of time determining what it is that's going to attract them.
SSW: How do you determine a show's location?
LD: There's a lot that goes into it. There's no easy way to determine a show's location. You spend time determining what's going to be viable for attendees to get to, what's going to offer the best services.
SSW: What makes a trade show successful?
LD: By whose account? There are a lot of stake holders involved and the definition of successful is different for each one of them.
SSW: Let's start with attendees.
LD: I think for the attendees it's the ability to get an education. It's the ability to meet with the people they need to meet with and learn what they need to learn so they can walk away with actionable items and have clear-cut plans for the future.
SSW: And the exhibitors?
LD: They need to walk away having met with a mass of quality prospects. That's why the overwhelming majority of exhibitors are there · to increase their business development.
SSW: What about you?
LD: Nobody's screaming at me for two days, or a week afterward. Silence. (Laughing.) Success for us is determined by the success of the stakeholders. We happen to pride ourselves on not just the fact that we have delivered a very high-quality audience for 12 solid years and helped to build this industry and the recognition for kiosk, self-service, customer-facing technology into what it is now. We also pride ourselves on the overall experience for every stakeholder. If the experience is worthwhile to all the stakeholders and there's a good chance that this becomes the type of thing they are interested in going back to regularly, if we've done that, it becomes a valuable piece for them. And that's what we want to do, make it a valuable business entity for everybody, make them want to be there and need to be there because so much is happening there.
SSW: When does the work behind the show end?
LD: It never ends. It's a 12-month, 24-hour-a-day job because we're looking at what's next, what's important for everyone in order for them to feel like it's a good value. I guess technically the show officially closes when the last exhibitor is packed up and the last crate is off the floor and we're out of there. But we're on it all year round, it never seems to end to me. It's been 12 years, though. Why should it end now.
Friday, 25 April 2008
The (Edinburgh, Scotland) Evening News: Libraries across the Capital are set to adopt self-service as part of a range of measures to encourage more people to borrow books. The overhaul is designed to help free up time for the city's librarians, allowing them to provide better service for those using the libraries.
Read more
Thursday, 24 April 2008
ARCATECH SYSTEMS announced the addition of two new PIN pads and a high-end check scanner, filling out the company's suite of kiosk-specific products. The company's current lineup includes PCI-PED-approved Interac PIN pads and check scanners that handle multiple documents and allow kiosk owners to capitalize on Check 21/remote capture. The company also provides cash and coin dispensers specifically designed for kiosks.
D2 SALES, known best for custom enclosures, is expanding its work with turnkey kiosks. At the show was D2's digital signage unit, which is being deployed at malls operated by General Growth Properties, the second-largest mall builder. About 2,500 of the screens, each of which can be fitted with a different fascia, are going into the malls. Also in the booth was the MyPatient Express, a patient-services kiosk more than two years in the making and rolling out rapidly across hospitals and clinic groups. The kiosk was a finalist in the Self Service Excellence Awards.
DT RESEARCH released its Rugged Fixed-Mount Tablet at the show. Geared toward industrial applications, the kiosk/digital sign can be mounted in emergency vehicles, forklifts, warehouses and watercrafts and programmed for companies' specific business processes. Also on the floor: its popular DS1500 and DS1700 digital screens ready for demonstration. At the booth the screens were equipped with the ShoptoCook application, which helps shoppers match recipes with in-store items.
HP is offering self-service kiosks that are individually designed to meet the needs of business customers. The kiosks offer a variety of functions, such as order entry, ticketing, bill payment, check-in, maps and directions, or human resource applications.
MEDIATILE had a large booth in The Digital Signage Show, a co-located show operated by the owner of KioskCom, and a presence at the IBM booth. The cellular digital signage provider exhibited its Kiosk-in-a-Box Marquee Edition solution, which combines a large digital signage display with an IBM Anyplace kiosk. The system is available in MediaTile's "Tusk" display enclosure, which gives the display a very modern look.
"The attract loop on the top screen brings people in, and then the kiosk experience is down below on the bottom screen," said Keith Kelsen, CEO of MediaTile. "Our new Kiosk-in-a-Box delivers the same breakthrough in the kiosk market that our Digital-Sign-in-a-Box system brought to the digital signage industry, a fully integrated solution that can easily be deployed and operated by simply adding power."
The biggest advantage of the Kiosk-in-a-Box is that there is no extensive set-up, software licensing or cabling. If the deployer should choose to connect the kiosk to a network, it can be done through MediaTile's cellular connectivity.
MEI showed its new cash recycler, the Cashflow BNR, which will be available for purchase this summer. It makes accepting bills easier and less expensive by accepting four denominations, not the usual three. (Most deployers prefer ones, fives, tens and twenties.) In addition, to prevent costly replenishment runs, the acceptor maintains a reserve of ones. To help develop the right mix of cash-acceptance capacity, MEI contracted with college students to watch over spending habits at c-stores. They provided more that 250,000 data points, according to spokesman Alec Shekhar.
NETKEY, a provider of applications, management software and turnkey solutions for kiosks and digital signs, was a co-creator of the EyeSite Kiosk, which won three Self Service Excellence Awards. At the show, the company announced a partnership with HP to help develop self-service projects for the computer giant.
NEXTEP SYSTEMS, a provider of customer self-order solutions to the QSR, fast casual, concessions and casino markets, displayed its Deli Express Kiosk, an application used by Nino Salvaggio International Marketplace chain, home to some of Michigan's highest volume deli counters.
Deli Express allows customers to order deli meats and cheeses from a touchscreen kiosk when they first enter the store. Customers continue with their shopping and pick up their deli orders about 10 minutes later. Customers also have the option of receiving a text message on their mobile phone when their order is ready.
PLANAR EMBEDDED showed its kiosk side with a line-up of embedded hardware for use in kiosks. All of Planar's screens for kiosks are touch-enabled, and both open-frame and enclosed models were on display.
Many deployers move toward financial services or cash-accepting kiosks without fully considering the necessary backroom management. So says Gloria Grand, who represented PDNB at the show. The company offers complete services, including customized solutions, payment settlement and vault cash.
PRACTICAL AUTOMATION showed a new printer that can be mounted at right angles to kiosks, saving space for deployers. Full release of the product is expected soon.
PRO-TECH displayed a new height-adjustable pedestal made of stainless steel and raised and lowered by an accentuator (a corkscrew-style lift). The pedestal can be used for ADA compliance or at truck-stop fuel stations where various sizes of rigs pull up for gas. A subway system in Europe will deploy them soon.
Software-security provider PROVISIO demonstrated its SiteKiosk 6 software, designed for protecting public-access terminals. SiteKiosk 6 protects kiosks from computer vandalism and provides remote-management functionality, while at the same time securing systems with virus protection and automatic logouts. The new software is Vista compatible.
PROVISION gained a lot of attention at the show for its holographic displays, which make images seem like they are floating from the screen. Holovision currently is being used for interactive POS advertising, in-store retail networks, transaction kiosk and trade show displays.
At the show, the Holovsion was integrated into two different kiosks: the Mini 3DEO Rewards Center kiosk, targeted to the grocery store market channel, and the stand-alone Google merchandising kiosk.
Representatives from RHOMBUS SERVICES were on hand to discuss the company's digital signage service and maintenance plans. In 2007, Rhombus was commissioned by Borders and RippleTV to install screens and do site surveys for them in 80 Borders locations in 10 days.
The company also installed 1,900 paint-selection kiosks, designed by 5point, for Behr paints in Home Depots from October 2006 to April 2007.
Both the Swanson Services Corp. Cobra Kiosk and the Alltel Wireless bill payment kiosks, housed at the SOURCE TECHNOLOGIES booth, were finalists at this year's Self Service Excellence Awards.
Source Technologies also announced that it has opened an office in London. "This was a critical move for Source Tech's long term growth," said Bill Lynch, Source Technologies' vice president of strategic development.
TOUCHMATE showed three kiosks it has developed as a result of a recently announced relationship with Par Technologies, with Par providing the electronic innards for TouchMate's boxes. The first two deployments initially will involve ticketing applications, with additional uses being considered.
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Click here to see a slideshow from the Digital Signage Show.
LAS VEGAS — KioskCom Self Service Expo and Digital Signage Show came and went last week with more exhibitors and kiosks than ever before. But when all was said and done, one kiosk stood out from the rest.
SoloHealth’s EyeSite kiosk, housed at the KIOSK Information Systems booth, stole the buzz from other devices as it took home three Self Service Excellence Awards, including Best in Show. The kiosk was submitted for the show’s awards by KIOSK and software partner Netkey.
"The EyeSite kiosk was the instant standout of KioskCom 2008," said Robert Porter, lead judge for KioskCom 2008. "It was unlike anything else. This unique application is practical, fun to use and presents a breakthrough technology platform that demonstrates the ability to make an enormous impact of people's eye health, as well as the ability to drive revenue in the vision market."
To use the free kiosk, individuals walk up to device and answer questions on the touchscreen. It asks the person’s age, the date of the person’s last eye exam and whether or not he wears contacts or glasses, Foster said. Based on that information, the kiosk presents a series of stimuli for both near and distance vision. Then, based on the responses, the kiosk prints out a report and gives the user video analysis of the results.
The kiosk also gives information about local eye professionals and encourages the user to visit them for a thorough eye examination.
Here’s a look at what some of KioskCom’s other featured exhibitors touted on the show floor.
3M TOUCHSYSTEMS showed a 32-inch interactive digital sign used during the 2008 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament. Tim Holt, communications manager for 3M, said that in a pro-am tournament setting the screens could be used for golfers to check each others’ scores, but in major tournaments they could be public-facing screens for fans to stay updated on scores.
5POINT’s vice president Edward Crowley said the convergence of digital signage and kiosks has never been more visible than at this year’s show. It was fitting, then, that 5point announced its new Vision Series Modular Kiosk and Eclipse Series Interactive Digital Signage at the show.
The Vision kiosks are designed for a wide range of environments, including the outdoors, and were used by KioskCom as its platform for self-service registration at the show.
“We’ve seen a strong interest in this type of all-in-one technology and we’re very excited to announce that the new Vision Series platform is now available for our customers and partners,” Crowley said. “There’s a growing demand for the peripherals these touchscreen devices offer as standard options as well as other kiosk integrated peripherals like thermal printers and secondary monitors. We created this new series with these factors in mind to ensure we’re providing a higher self-service experience overall.”
The large format Eclipse digital signage is also designed for outdoor deployments. The unit can operate in temperatures from minus 20 degrees to 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
ASAHI SEIKO USA displayed several of its card dispensers, including the CD-1000, the company’s most popular model, said Robert Angell, a sales representative for Asahi Seiko. The large dispenser, designed for paper and polyester credit-card sized cards and tickets, can hold up to approximately 1,000 cards.
Launched in October, BETTER ATM SERVICES touted its patented technology that enables existing ATMs to dispense prepaid cards through ATM cash trays. The company’s cost effective distribution option means banks, shopping malls, grocery stores and restaurants can now offer prepaid gift cards, premiums, and other incentives through ATMs without need to refit or reconfigure the ATMs’ hardware.
“Getting a gift card is now a snap,” said Derek Cook, Better ATM Services’ chief financial officer. “And it’s basically zero cost to ATM owners.”
CARD SCANNING SOLUTIONS’ SnapShell ID Reader camera solution was on showcase at the CSS booth. The scanner captures driver’s license information quickly and accurately. The SnapShell uses a 3 mega-pixel camera built into its base to snap high-quality digital images of ID cards (up to 600 dpi).
It also uses a USB 2.0 connection and features no moving parts while requiring no calibration, making it a low maintenance solution that allows users to simply place their cards face down on the window and letting the ID reader system do the rest.
CHETU’s Terry Owen, director of sales, was enthusiastic about the company’s second visit to KioskCom.
“Kiosks aren’t just the ‘dumb terminals’ anymore,” Owen said.
Owen explained that Chetu is an IT consulting company which offers a low-budget software solution. The company offers custom-designed kiosk software for $20 per hour.
“Once we create the software, there are no licensing fees – the customer owns it,” Owen said. “Normally a customer would have to pay licensing fees on each piece of the kiosk.”
COMARK CORP. displayed its Wide-Touch Kiosk, which Comark president Steve Schott said is ideal for maps, directories, shopping malls and movie tickets. The kiosk features include 19-inch screen and optional touchscreen. The booth displayed a golf course directory and information application on its kiosk demo.
A 32-inch interactive digital signage touchscreen was also on display. Schott said the unit was big in Europe and it on its way to catching on in the United States.
COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY SERVICES was on hand to explain the company’s expertise in digital signage and kiosk network installation and answer any deployment questions attendees had.
“Customers don’t always know what they want,” said Michael Shaub, national account executive for CTS. “We help steer them in the right direction.”
CTS does not subcontract its work out; all installations are done by CTS trained personnel. Shaub said this helps maintain a similar quality throughout all their work.
DIEBOLD PREMIER SERVICES touted its installation and maintenance services at the show. Julie Manson, Diebold’s senior services marketing manager, said Diebold’s more than 3,400 technicians handle small and large installations. Diebold also provides a 24/7 customer response center, service parts logistics, inventory management, software support and a host of other services.
“We’re about providing pleasant and consistent customer service,” Manson said.
DFI TECHNOLOGIES had several of its mini computers on display, but the highlight of the showcase according to business manager Albert Chien was the ST-300. This slim mini computer is used in various kiosk and digital signage applications, with its key feature being slimness.
“Most customers don’t care about the overall size of the computer,” Chien said. “For installation purposes they’re concerned about the thickness.”
DFI also showed an all-in-one touchscreen kiosk that was designed for many different mounting applications. Chien said the kiosk could be placed on a desktop stand, wall-mounted using a bracket or placed in a kiosk enclosure.
ELAN FINANCIAL SERVICES showed a multi-function financial self-service machine loaded with features and capabilities. All of the components were integrated into a freestanding MoniMax ATM enclosure from Nautilus Hyosung. In addition to normal ATM functionality, Elan’s machine featured a check scanner, coin acceptor, barcode scanner and a security-enabled screen that eliminated over-the-shoulder glances.
ELO TOUCHSYSTEMS’s RemoteNurse Patient Monitor was a finalist for the Best Health Deployment at the Self Service Excellence Awards. The kiosk, which includes a device that measures pulse, helps diagnose patient symptoms and ailments.
The booth also featured its 17A2 touch computer, a 17-inch all-in-one desktop. The space-saving, compact design of the touch computer offers increased flexibility for easy integration of a variety of optional field-replaceable peripherals including three-track magnetic stripe reader for credit, ID and loyalty card transactions; customer-facing display to verify those transactions; biometric fingerprint recognition for increased security; speakers and DVD drive.
FAST TRANSACT was on hand representing the financial payment aspect of retail kiosks. The company was showing its Argofire payment software solution. The software is designed to secure transactions and benefit both the customer and the retailer. Fast Transact software operates on a revenue-sharing program, so the customer has full ownership of the software when using it.
“All transactions through the Argofire gateway happen on our server, not at the kiosk, making the transactions more secure,” said Adriane Armbruster, senior account executive for Fast Transact.
FLEXTRONICS, a $30 billion global electronics company, announced its new venture to help speed the deployment of self-service applications. The program, called “Jumpstart,” offers companies a set of software plug-ins and hardware components preconfigured for faster, more effective rollouts.
“We want to bring to market a product that will help jumpstart businesses,” said Andrew Block, senior director of Flextronics’ Self Service Solutions Group. “And we hope to jumpstart not just the product, but the industry as well.”
Block said that since acquiring WebRaiser Technologies and Solectron, Flextronics has benefited from the unification of self-service resources, thus becoming a major player in the industry. The acquisition made Flextronics the world’s second-largest electronics manufacturing and self-service powerhouse, trailing only Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. in terms of annual sales, according to Forbes.
The Nintendo Wii kiosk at the FRANK MAYER AND ASSOCIATES was arguably the most popular machine on display at the Expo, judged by the lines to use the interactive demo. The kiosks allowed Nintendo to take the displays to events across the United States and played an integral part of Nintendo's marketing campaign, said Michael Mayer, president and chief operating officer of Frank Mayer and Associates.
The Mayer booth also displayed its Ford SYNC Kiosk, which won the Best Other Industry Deployment Award at the Self Service Excellence Awards. Displayed predominantly at auto shows and high-traffic outdoor events, the Ford SYNC kiosk houses a 50-inch touchscreen that provides a guided tour of the SYNC technology. The SYNC system was developed jointly by Ford and Microsoft Corp.
FREEDOM SHOPPING’s sole item at the show was its self-assisted bill and coin dispensing kiosk. The Valet kiosk model offers POS functionality for unmanned and partially manned self-checkout, accepts cash, credit/debit, store accounts, loyalty cards, hotel room keys, online accounts and biometrics ID, and manages inventory, including returns and automatic re-orders. The system includes RFID-tag association and integrated digital advertising that correlates with purchases.
FUJITSU highlighted its new two-inch thermal printer unit for receipt and ticketing kiosks at the show. The new model offers OEMs a reliable, high-quality printing solution for medium-volume print output. The printer integrates an auto cutter capable of full or partial cutting, an automatic paper feed, a paper holder for up to 83mm diameter rolls, and an integrated paper guide. The unit’s double-tilt function enhances maintenance for paper jam clearing and thermal head cleaning, said Jim Harrison, Fujitsu’s product marketing manager for thermal printers.
The printer also includes built-in detection functions such as motor over-current protection, paper-out/near-end and abnormal thermal head temperature to prevent print interruptions.
GA SERVICES’ Bill Gorksi said the company had a lot of inquiries at the show. Gorksi explained to many the company’s services with deployments, integration and shipping for digital signage and self-service projects.
“No two stores are ever the same, even though they may claim to have the same layouts,” Gorski said.
For projects such as ADFLOW’s Office Max digital signage deployment, GA Services coordinated the integration and staging and aggregation of components such as cables, mounts, media players, etc.
H&M NETWORKS didn’t have any flashy new kiosk on display at their booth. That’s not what they do, said Rich Henkels, director of national accounts sales for H & M NetWorks.
“What’s forgotten (in a kiosk deployment) is what has to happen beyond the box,” Henkels said. “That’s what we take care of.”
H&M provides services, including wireless, that tie kiosks to the network.
HECON/HENGSTLER was showing the new Extendo Series X-56 thermal printer for kiosk applications. Extendo printers are designed for rugged use and are usually found in outdoor kiosks and other outdoor customer-facing applications such as self-service car washes and gas pumps. The printers on display could print paper or ticket stock. David Widmann, general manager, said that the printers are effective in temperatures ranging from -25 degrees to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
A host of partners that use IBM CORP.’s Anyplace Kiosk were on display at the company’s booth. Experticity’s Live Support On-Demand Kiosk was demonstrated for attendees. The enclosure for the kiosk was designed by Olea Inc., designer and manufacturer of self-service kiosks. Olea’s “green” enclosure was made from an engineered panel from Sorghum plant. Sorghum plant is grown around the world for food production. The plant stalks are dried and heat pressed using a non-toxic adhesive to form the board product. The stalks of the plant are not used in food production and would otherwise be thrown away.
Curiosk, a wine greeting card and information kiosk, was also on view at IBM’s exhibit. The kiosk guides users through wine selection and then allows them to personalize a greeting card using a touch keyboard. After the transaction, a receipt is printed along with the greeting card, which folds to fit on top of the wine bottle.
The wine kiosk is currently in the pilot stage at some Florida wine shops, but may move into grocery stores with wine departments in the future.
“It’s simple and so easy to use,” said David Weinberg, president of Curiosk. “Scan, personalize and print.”
ID TECH was the magnetic stripe specialist at KioskCom, showing several versions of the company’s card reading technology for use in traction kiosks. Some of the company’s peripherals included swipe and insertion magnetic stripe readers and encrypting PIN pads.
INFONOX’s “bank-in-a-box” solution, formally called the KioskPASS, was on display at the company’s booth. The multi-function financial kiosk, in which Infonox makes the software, features, in addition to ATM functions, gift cards, bill payment, prepaid top-up and money orders. A digital sign also allows kiosk owners to sell advertising and offset some of the cost.
“You are making money before the first transaction is made,” said Ashim Banerjee, executive vice president for Infonox.
Infonox’s kiosk was the named the Best Financial Services Deployment at KioskCom’s Self Service Excellence Awards.
Specializing in outdoor kiosks, primarily in the car wash space, INNOVATIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS showcased its Auto Sentry eXP kiosk, which accepts multiple payment methods including cash, credit and gift card.
Streaming audio and video guides the user swiftly through the sales purchase, instructing them through wash selection and payment method. A normal transaction takes between 15 and 30 seconds, with credit cards clearing in an average of three seconds.
The kiosks are deployed in about 1,000 locations in the United States and Australia.
JCM GLOBAL had the DBV-307 Cash Recycling System on display, a device that product manager Jeff Gray said is seen mostly in casino and gaming settings. The Las Vegas-based company has 80 percent of the cash recycling market share in Sin City, according to Gray. JCM products, traditionally used in slot machines, are also seen in table games in the form of bill validators.
“Plastic enclosures on these devices mean they are lower cost, but still have a high acceptance speed,” Gray said.
KIOSK INFORMATION SYSTEMS brought a myriad of kiosks to KioskCom this year. In addition to the EyeSite kiosk, KIOSK displayed its Dave and Buster’s Power Gaming Card Kiosk and retail outfitter Cabelas’ kiosk, all of which were finalists for KioskCom’s Self Service Excellence Awards.
KIOSK also touted its growing presence abroad by announcing it has tripled its number of international distributors. The company added distributors in Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, Venezuela, Canada, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Jordan, Kuwait, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. This expansion follows KIOSK’s strongest 2008 first quarter in the company’s 15-year history, said Cheryl Madeson, marketing manager for KIOSK Information Systems.
KIOSK LOGIX displayed its NetStop software, a package that protects the hard drive of a kiosk, preventing access to the operating system and other sensitive data. The software incorporates a design module that lets owners customize the user interface, said Kevin Mathison, Kiosk Logix’s vice president of technology.
The latest version of NetStop allows users to remotely monitor, administer, update or query all of their kiosks, provide digital signage technology with ease, auto transfer files, including digital signage content, to all remote kiosks and get statistics on Web sites visited and applications used.
The Foxwoods Resort Casino Promotions Kiosk was demonstrated at the LIVEWIRE INTERNATIONAL booth. The solution is deployed on 36 kiosks throughout the property and allows visitors to view resort and casino amenities. Rewards patrons may also swipe their cards to view point balances, enter sweepstakes, sign up for events and obtain personalized rewards in the form of coupons and bonus slot tickets. In addition, digital advertising monitors mounted on the kiosks above the touchscreen interfaces continuously display advertising and other casino information such as drawing winners and jackpot payouts.
Livewire’s casino kiosk nabbed the Best Entertainment/Gaming Deployment award at the Self Service Excellence Awards.
The company also announced that the MGM Grand at Foxwoods plans to install Livewire’s hotel check-in kiosks later this year.
NANONATION showed off its newest point-of-decision application which allows an Apple iPhone to control product content on a digital screen. Using Nanonation software, the iPhone itself can also play video content relevant to the product. Brian Ardinger, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Nanonation, also said that sales associates can use the iPhone to control digital screens during sales pitches.
“Deployers have the option of having this be interactive or more like traditional digital signage,” he said.
Nanonation also featured an interactive media kiosk designed for SanDisk that allowed users to download movie trailers and short films their cell phones. Ardinger said the kiosk has been used as part of promos for the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals, among others. The SanDisk kiosk enclosure was also on display at the Frank Mayer and Associates booth.
NEXT WINDOW’s booth in the Digital Signage Show area was chock-full of digital signs, all of which were touch-enabled using the company’s optical overlay technology. Next Window’s screens are designed to be integrated with third party enclosures and can enable touch on screens up to 100 inches. At the front of the booth was a screen from Next Window and PanelWorx which featured a multi-application system containing a digital jukebox and photo editing tools controlled by touch.
Next Window technology had a presence at Mandalay Bay prior to the show with the recently installed Virtual Concierge interactive digital signage network in the hotel lobby and casino. The company said that one of the displays is experiencing more than 4,000 unique customer interactions per week.
OPERATOR INTERFACE TECHNOLOGY, known for its metal-encased rugged keyboards, had a new addition to its line of outdoor interfaces. Where in the past DFI’s keyboards featured a trackball or joystick for cursor movement, the newest Rugged Keyboard sports a sealed touchpad. The pad is similar to those found on many laptops today, except this one was sealed with a molded bezel to keep out the elements.
“We see a lot of people try to use a cheap keyboard with kiosk applications, but it just doesn’t work,” said Bob Nolan, president of OIT.
PANJIT TOUCHSCREENS had its line of capacitive touchscreens on display at the front of its booth, but the company’s most innovative recent product was kept in the back. Upon request, Todd Winter, director of sales, showed the Touch Window, a small touchscreen that could be attached to cell phones that would enable touch-capabilities. The screens are made of impact-resistant plastic to withstand normal cell phone abuse.
Winter said that in addition to cell phones, the screen could touch-enable digital cameras, PSPs and anything with a flat surface.
PAY-EASE displayed its automated commerce machine, a self-service kiosk designed for bill payments and services. The application, which was launched in August 2007, allows citizens to pay parking and red-light citations, as well as utility bills. Pay-Ease’s software can be customized to allow consumers to pay bills, purchase gift cards, transfer funds, purchase wireless and long distance minutes, renew driver's licenses and registrations and conduct ATM transactions.
As of February, approximately 20 kiosks had been deployed at Chicago payment centers, police stations and libraries. They are also installed at Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports, and DePaul University. Pay-Ease is in talks with other municipalities and always on the lookout for others, said Wes Pollard, Pay-Ease’s director of marketing.
REALITY INTERACTIVE, a content developer for digital signage and kiosks, recently completed a large project with BMW, where the auto maker replaced freestanding kiosks with an interactive digital signage experience in all 350 of its U.S. dealerships. Screens showing car features and track footage in HD are placed in a branded area, complete with high-back leather chairs resembling those in BMW cars.
“You can really take a high energy drive in an area like downtown Chicago, but this screen can let you take one in the showroom,” said Bryson Hyte of Reality Interactive.
RED DOT NET showcased its kiosks, which use wheels instead of touch. The kiosks, which are deployed at many Barnes and Noble Bookstore locations, also have wayfinding capabilities, said Robb Kirschenmann, Red Dot Net’s director of operations.
“It’s not your typical kiosk,” Kirschenmann said. “People can get engaged with it using the wheel.”
SEIKO INSTRUMENTS debuted its APU-9000 thermal printer unit, which will go into mass production later this summer. The printer, which can support extreme temperatures, maintains a small footprint and high-printing speeds, said Adam Ortlieb, associate director of marketing for Seiko’s Thermal Printer Division.
Seiko also announced that it named Kazuhisa “Kaz” Onishi vice president and general manager with overall responsibility for the Americas. Onishi previously served as general manager of sales and marketing for Seiko Instruments Print Systems Division in Japan, where he achieved 100 percent worldwide revenue growth during his six year tenure.
Onishi will oversee the execution of SIU Thermal Printer Division’s strategy to leverage global dominance in thermal printer technology and expand business across targeted sectors, including healthcare, self-service, mobile workforce, government and retail and hospitality.
STAR MICRONICS was on hand to demonstrate its line of kiosk printers which range from two to four inches in width. Star also offers adjustable width printers for custom kiosk applications. All printers on display from Star were open-frame. Representatives from the company said that the line of kiosk printers have been popular with airline e-ticket and CUSS kiosks, bus and rail ticketing, Internet access terminals, maps and directional kiosks as well as gift registry, ATM and gaming applications.
STOREFRONT.COM, the company that recently won six out of eight DIMA Awards for photo kiosks, displayed a digital signage video wall in the Digital Signage Show area as well as its photo solutions in the Self Service Expo.
Both systems were controlled by Storefront’s Remote Monitoring System, which Tom Ceh, VP of sales and marketing, said can be used to manage everything from small kiosks to digital billboards.
TELPAR demonstrated its new two-inch printer designed for use in kiosk and self-service applications, as well as gaming, vending, receipt ticketing and ATMs, and many remote printing environments. The printer features USB, serial, parallel and Ethernet interface connectivity, a faster print speed (up to seven inches per second), and a wider operating temperature range.
Rebecca Whalen of Telpar said that the wide range of interfaces is so that customers using legacy connections can begin to migrate to more modern connections as they update their systems.
TELSOURCE CORP. was showcasing its InfoZone lightweight kiosk, which was set up for a retail assistance application. Vince Sciarra, president and CEO of TelSource, said that the kiosks are great for retail because they are connected by Ethernet cables which are easier and cheaper to run than common CAT-5s.
Sciarra also explained that IP voice recognition on the InfoZone, which allows customers to call sales people and even call center assistants at remote locations for product info and help. The InfoZone has been deployed in TransWorld Entertainment’s FYE music and movie stores.
Digital Signage Today editor Bill Yackey also contributed to this article.
Monday, 21 April 2008
News.com.au: Woolworths and Safeway supermarkets will soon have self-service checkouts at more than 70 stores around Australia by the end of June. The first units will appear in stores in the next few weeks.
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Monday, 21 April 2008
DALLAS — TableTop Media has unveiled its wireless, interactive tabletop device with pay-on-demand capabilities.
TableTop Media delivers a pay-at-the-table device with three distinct features: split check, touch tip and email or print receipt capabilities. Unlike traditional pay-at-the-table products, the solution places control in the guests’ hands to pay at their convenience.
TableTop Media’s solution has been installed at Cozymel’s Mexican Grill in its Grapevine, Texas location for the past three months.
The solution is built upon the Microsoft Windows Embedded CE operating system and the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework and uses additional Microsoft technologies including Microsoft Windows Server 2005, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and Internet Information Services 6.0.
Monday, 21 April 2008
Cheapflights.com: Passengers traveling between China and the U.S. will soon be able to take advantage of self-service check-in kiosks at Shanghai Pudong Airport. The newly opened Terminal 2 building, used by international passengers, has been fitted with 80 Common Use Self-Service (CUSS) units. Northwest Airlines will be the first carrier to offer self-service tickets at the airport, with several other carriers expected to follow suit over the next few months.
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Monday, 21 April 2008
Easier Travel: Flybe, a low cost European airline, has completed the installation of 64 new self-service electronic check-in kiosks at regional airports across the UK. The kiosks, placed at 13 UK airports at which Flybe is based, were installed by ARINC Inc., a provider of check in and boarding systems.
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Monday, 21 April 2008
TMCnet: For WVU students, finding a job will soon be as easy as swiping an ID card. New computer kiosks that will be installed around campus promise better access to job postings and internships, said David Durham, director of the WVU Career Services Center. Students will be able to put an ID card into the machine, and it will list all of the jobs that relate to their major and program year. The university bought 10 kiosks with a total of $40,000 donated by a private donor, Durham said. They are scheduled to be up and running by fall. The kiosks will be located in high-traffic areas, such as the Mountainlair, the Student Recreation Center, libraries and certain departments.
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Monday, 21 April 2008
ABC7News.com: A Mountain View, Calif., company wants to help make a trip to the drug store a little bit quicker. It's been working on its idea for the past two years, and it officially came out to the public in April. Their product is a kiosk that offers tips on over-the-counter drugs for your specific symptoms. The kiosks prompt you to select your symptoms, then the computer does a search for you. It comes up with a list of medicines that should cure what ails you, offers you a look at the label and even tells you where to find it on the shelf. The kiosks can be found in 135 Longs Drug stores.
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Monday, 21 April 2008
MADRID, Spain — Public Computing BV has announced that ING DIRECT Spain, a retail banking unit of ING Group N.V., has become the most recent bank to operate Public Computing kiosks in their branch offices.
Worldwide, ING Direct, a Netherlands-based financial institution, has launched many innovative products to assist their customers. ING DIRECT Spain went live with Public Computing kiosks in March of this year. ING Customers can now engage in online banking, make payment transactions and close insurance contracts through the kiosk terminals.
"The successful launch of X6 kiosks at ING DIRECT's Spain offices very much confirms the growth path we see in banking and insurance applications for self-service technology" said Peter te Lintel Hekkert, director of sales. "This is the perfect kiosk for the ING DIRECT banking environment as it is elegant whilst being exceptionally robust. Moreover this project included the use of the X6 sit-down model that is readily wheel-chair accessible."
Monday, 21 April 2008
ARCATECH SYSTEMS announced the addition of two new PIN pads and a high-end check scanner, filling out the company's suite of kiosk-specific products. The company's current lineup includes PCI-PED-approved Interac PIN pads and check scanners that handle multiple documents and allow kiosk owners to capitalize on Check 21/remote capture. The company also provides cash and coin dispensers specifically designed for kiosks.
D2 SALES, known best for custom enclosures, is expanding its work with turnkey kiosks. At the show was D2's digital signage unit, which is being deployed at malls operated by General Growth Properties, the second-largest mall builder. About 2,500 of the screens, each of which can be fitted with a different fascia, are going into the malls. Also in the booth was the MyPatient Express, a patient-services kiosk more than two years in the making and rolling out rapidly across hospitals and clinic groups. The kiosk was a finalist in the Self Service Excellence Awards.
DT RESEARCH released its Rugged Fixed-Mount Tablet at the show. Geared toward industrial applications, the kiosk/digital sign can be mounted in emergency vehicles, forklifts, warehouses and watercrafts and programmed for companies' specific business processes. Also on the floor: its popular DS1500 and DS1700 digital screens ready for demonstration. At the booth the screens were equipped with the ShoptoCook application, which helps shoppers match recipes with in-store items.
HP is offering self-service kiosks that are individually designed to meet the needs of business customers. The kiosks offer a variety of functions, such as order entry, ticketing, bill payment, check-in, maps and directions, or human resource applications.
MEDIATILE had a large booth in The Digital Signage Show, a co-located show operated by the owner of KioskCom, and a presence at the IBM booth. The cellular digital signage provider exhibited its Kiosk-in-a-Box Marquee Edition solution, which combines a large digital signage display with an IBM Anyplace kiosk. The system is available in MediaTile's "Tusk" display enclosure, which gives the display a very modern look.
"The attract loop on the top screen brings people in, and then the kiosk experience is down below on the bottom screen," said Keith Kelsen, CEO of MediaTile. "Our new Kiosk-in-a-Box delivers the same breakthrough in the kiosk market that our Digital-Sign-in-a-Box system brought to the digital signage industry, a fully integrated solution that can easily be deployed and operated by simply adding power."
The biggest advantage of the Kiosk-in-a-Box is that there is no extensive set-up, software licensing or cabling. If the deployer should choose to connect the kiosk to a network, it can be done through MediaTile's cellular connectivity.
MEI showed its new cash recycler, the Cashflow BNR, which will be available for purchase this summer. It makes accepting bills easier and less expensive by accepting four denominations, not the usual three. (Most deployers prefer ones, fives, tens and twenties.) In addition, to prevent costly replenishment runs, the acceptor maintains a reserve of ones. To help develop the right mix of cash-acceptance capacity, MEI contracted with college students to watch over spending habits at c-stores. They provided more that 250,000 data points, according to spokesman Alec Shekhar.
NETKEY, a provider of applications, management software and turnkey solutions for kiosks and digital signs, was a co-creator of the EyeSite Kiosk, which won three Self Service Excellence Awards. At the show, the company announced a partnership with HP to help develop self-service projects for the computer giant.
NEXTEP SYSTEMS, a provider of customer self-order solutions to the QSR, fast casual, concessions and casino markets, displayed its Deli Express Kiosk, an application used by Nino Salvaggio International Marketplace chain, home to some of Michigan's highest volume deli counters.
Deli Express allows customers to order deli meats and cheeses from a touchscreen kiosk when they first enter the store. Customers continue with their shopping and pick up their deli orders about 10 minutes later. Customers also have the option of receiving a text message on their mobile phone when their order is ready.
PLANAR EMBEDDED showed its kiosk side with a line-up of embedded hardware for use in kiosks. All of Planar's screens for kiosks are touch-enabled, and both open-frame and enclosed models were on display.
Many deployers move toward financial services or cash-accepting kiosks without fully considering the necessary backroom management. So says Gloria Grand, who represented PDNB at the show. The company offers complete services, including customized solutions, payment settlement and vault cash.
PRACTICAL AUTOMATION showed a new printer that can be mounted at right angles to kiosks, saving space for deployers. Full release of the product is expected soon.
PRO-TECH displayed a new height-adjustable pedestal made of stainless steel and raised and lowered by an accentuator (a corkscrew-style lift). The pedestal can be used for ADA compliance or at truck-stop fuel stations where various sizes of rigs pull up for gas. A subway system in Europe will deploy them soon.
Software-security provider PROVISIO demonstrated its SiteKiosk 6 software, designed for protecting public-access terminals. SiteKiosk 6 protects kiosks from computer vandalism and provides remote-management functionality, while at the same time securing systems with virus protection and automatic logouts. The new software is Vista compatible.
PROVISION gained a lot of attention at the show for its holographic displays, which make images seem like they are floating from the screen. Holovision currently is being used for interactive POS advertising, in-store retail networks, transaction kiosk and trade show displays.
At the show, the Holovsion was integrated into two different kiosks: the Mini 3DEO Rewards Center kiosk, targeted to the grocery store market channel, and the stand-alone Google merchandising kiosk.
Representatives from RHOMBUS SERVICES were on hand to discuss the company's digital signage service and maintenance plans. In 2007, Rhombus was commissioned by Borders and RippleTV to install screens and do site surveys for them in 80 Borders locations in 10 days.
The company also installed 1,900 paint-selection kiosks, designed by 5point, for Behr paints in Home Depots from October 2006 to April 2007.
Both the Swanson Services Corp. Cobra Kiosk and the Alltel Wireless bill payment kiosks, housed at the SOURCE TECHNOLOGIES booth, were finalists at this year's Self Service Excellence Awards.
Source Technologies also announced that it has opened an office in London. "This was a critical move for Source Tech's long term growth," said Bill Lynch, Source Technologies' vice president of strategic development.
TOUCHMATE showed three kiosks it has developed as a result of a recently announced relationship with Par Technologies, with Par providing the electronic innards for TouchMate's boxes. The first two deployments initially will involve ticketing applications, with additional uses being considered.
Thursday, 17 April 2008
LAS VEGAS — Flextronics, a $30 billion global electronics company, has announced a new venture to help speed the deployment of self-service applications. The program, called “Jumpstart,” offers companies a set of software plug-ins and hardware components preconfigured for faster, more effective rollouts.
Flextronics introduced its “Jumpstart” initiative on day one of KioskCom Self Service Expo in Las Vegas.
“We want to bring to market a product that will help jumpstart businesses,” said Andrew Block, senior director of Flextronics’ Self Service Solutions Group. “And we hope to jumpstart not just the product, but the industry as well.”
Block said that the self-service industry is confronting a quality problem. Not only are kiosks with poor usability being misused to premature deaths, manufacturing processes are not cranking out reliable machines. And when users encounter down kiosks, the whole industry suffers. One remedy, Block said, is to bring some consistency to the design and building of machines.
Block said that since acquiring WebRaiser Technologies and Solectron, Flextronics has benefited from the unification of self-service resources, thus becoming a major player in the industry. The acquisition made Flextronics the world’s second-largest electronics manufacturing and self-service powerhouse, trailing only Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. in terms of annual sales, according to Forbes.
Headquartered in Singapore, with 20,000 employees in dozens of locations around the world, Flextronics helps customers design, build, ship and service electronics products, including kiosks, through a network of facilities in 30 countries on four continents.
Thursday, 17 April 2008
LAS VEGAS—It was triple vision for SoloHealth at KioskCom’s Self Service Excellence awards ceremony as its innovative EyeSite kiosk won two of three categories where it had been entered and snagged the day’s grand prize, the Best of the Best, for receiving the most votes of entries in all categories.
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David Drain (left), executive director of the Self-Service & Kiosk Association, congratulates IBM's Cortlandt Johnson, who was inducted into the association's hall of fame.
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Users of the EyeSite kiosk enter sight-related information on a touchscreen, such as the person’s age, the date of his last eye exam and whether he wears contacts or glasses. The kiosk then presents a series of stimuli for both near and distance vision. A printout of the results and a video analysis help the user determine the next steps for eye care.
In addition to overall best, the application was voted best healthcare application and best new innovation in a kiosk deployment. Manufacturer KIOSK Information Systems and software vendor Netkey submitted the kiosk for the Self Service Excellence awards, which were presented on the first day of KioskCom Self Service Expo.
For the first time, the Self-Service and Kiosk Association announced its Hall of Fame inductees as part of the awards ceremony. They were Cortlandt Johnson and Janet Webster. Johnson’s background includes helping Eastman Kodak develop the first photo kiosk and being a leader of self-service technology at IBM. He also helped found the association. Webster, who manages self-service for the United States Postal Service, is responsible for the deployment of 2,500 Automated Postal Center kiosks. For 2005, she was the recipient of the 2005 Kiosk Industry Leader of the Year Award in the Deployer category.
Below are all entries and winners of the KioskCom Self Service Excellence Awards.
Best Retail Deployment
• Cabelas - Best Retail Deployment, submitted by KIOSK Information Systems
• Self-Service Networks: Electronic Gift Card Dispenser, submitted by Self-Service Networks
• WINNER: Self-Service Networks: Thule Interactive Point-of-Purchase, submitted by Self-Service Networks
Best Financial Services Deployment
• Alltel BillPay Kiosk, submitted by Source Technologies
• Automated Commerce Machine (ACM), submitted by Pay-Ease LLC
• WINNER: Multi-Function Financial Services Kiosk, submitted by INFONOX
Best Goverment/Education/Non-Profit Agency Deployment
• WINNER: Automated Commerce Machine (ACM), submitted by Pay-Ease LLC
• Barcelona City Council Service Kiosk, submitted by FOCUS ON EMOTIONS
• SWANSON SERVICES CORPORATION COBRA KIOSK, submitted by Source Technologies
Best Travel/Hospitality Deployment
• Northwest Airlines Mobile Website, submitted by Northwest Airlines
• WINNER: PDC Smart Kiosk, submitted by MEI
• SITA S2 AirportConnect Kiosk, submitted by SITA
Best Entertainment/Gaming Deployment
• Dave & Buster's Loyalty Kiosk, submitted by KIOSK Information Systems
• WINNER: Foxwoods Resort Casino Promotions Kiosk, submitted by Livewire International
• SanDisk Digital Media Download Kiosk, submitted by Nanonation
Best Healthcare Deployment
• WINNER: EyeSite Kiosk by SoloHealth, submitted by Netkey and KIOSK Information Systems
• Patient Passport Express, submitted by D2 Sales
• Phreesia - The Patient Check-in Company, submitted by Phreesia, Inc.
• RemoteNurse Patient Monitor, submitted by Elo TouchSystems
Best Food Service Deployment
• Mandalay Bay - Bayside Buffet, submitted by NCR Corporation and MGM
• WINNER: Prepayment Kiosk by School-Link Technologies, submitted by MEI
Best Other Industry Deployment
• BMW ICS (Indoor Communication System), submitted by Reality Interactive
• EyeSite Kiosk by SoloHealth, submitted by Netkey, KIOSK Information Systems
• WINNER: Ford SYNC Kiosk, submitted by Frank Mayer & Associates, Inc., Wireless Ronin Inc.
Best Overall Software Solution
• BMW ICS (Indoor Communication System), submitted by Reality Interactive
• WINNER: Dave & Buster's Loyalty Kiosk, submitted by KIOSK Information Systems, St. Clair Interactive
• Showroom Technology SHOW/PRO V3 Kiosk, submitted by Netkey
Best Hardware/Enclosure Design
• Automated Commerce Machine (ACM), submitted by Pay-Ease, LLC
• BMW ICS (Indoor Communication System), submitted by Reality Interactive
• WINNER: CVD's, submitted by CVD, Inc.
Best New Innovation in a Kiosk Deployment
• WINNER: EyeSite Kiosk by SoloHealth, submitted by KIOSK Information Systems & Netkey
• Live Nation - Interactive Mobile Phone Digital Signage, submitted by Nanonation
• Phreesia - The Patient Check-in Company, submitted by Phreesia
• Qflix, submitted by Sonic Solutions
Best of the Best
EyeSite Kiosk by SoloHealth, Netkey & KIOSK Information Systems
Industry Deployer of the Year
David Forbes, exec director, IT, AT&T, for his work using kiosks and digital signage to enhance the customer experience for mobile customers.
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
LAS VEGAS—KioskCom Self Service Expo opens its spring show today in Las Vegas with a twist: Digital signage gets a room of its own.
Joel Davis, president and CEO of JD Events, which owns and operates KioskCom, spoke about the change at the semi-annual Self-Service & Kiosk Association Advisory Board meeting.
“It comes from conversations with the board, where I heard a lot about convergence and overlap, and mainly about the similarity of audiences,” he said.
About 80 percent of KioskCom attendees are also interested in digital signage, he said.
The area bespoke to display technology is branded the Digital Signage Show and has about 40 exhibitors. Other digital signage products appear in exhibits among kiosk and other self-service applications. Floor space set aside for those applications increased 15 percent over 2007.
The show continues to recruit attendees to comprise a wholly merchant/deployer mix. Since taking over the show in 2005, Davis has implemented tighter standards against vendors coming to the show to sell to exhibitors, or even compete with them.
“Our main focus is to deliver a quality audience to our exhibitors,” Davis said. “Our mandate was to clean up the audience when we bought KioskCom.”
This year, he said, anyone suspected of not being a merchant/deployer was denied a badge. For the 2007 spring show, 83 applicants did not receive one. This year, 487 were turned away.
“It’s almost as though we put the onus on them to prove they aren’t a vendor,” Davis said. “It hurts us on the show floor, but is upping the quality of the audience.”
When pre-registration closed last Friday, 2,200 attendees had been approved, and Davis expects another couple of hundred to register at the show.
Davis said that in addition to a fall show in New York (Oct. 15-16 this year) and one in London (Oct. 1-2), his team is working on building an edition in Asia, and hopes to have something set up no later than 2010.
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Time Magazine: Ron Gonen wants to make recycling worth consumers' time. The former management consultant co-founded RecycleBank in 2004 on the simple idea that people want to recycle, but they just need a little push. So Gonen decided to appeal to their pocketbooks. One of the ways in which his company is doing that is by deploying special recylcing kiosks that reward consumers with special points that can be redeemed for offers by area merchants.
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Monday, 14 April 2008
CINCINNATI, Ohio — Electronic Art, an interactive agency specializing in custom kiosk software, kiosk hardware and integrated Web sites, has launched its new Web site focusing on custom-designed interactive kiosks and digital signage for all industries. The company will celebrate the official unveiling of its new Web site while exhibiting at KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show in Las Vegas April 16–17, Booth #521.
Also making its debut at KioskCom will be EA’s new EasyShip XL Kiosk. The EasyShip XL Kiosk’s full-size cabinet allows integration of components, such as full-size printers or PCs. Providing an alternative to using an all-in-one kiosk, the EasyShip XL’s larger cabinet also provides customers space for applied signage or other branding. And the kiosk’s oval base allows for a smaller footprint and 20 percent more stability than previous models. The kiosk also features an overhead signage option, which allows space for printed or digital signage.
Additionally, Electronic Art has announced its partnership with Ripley Metalworks as EA’s new fabrication partner, giving EA a broader range of custom metal enclosure options, lower cost, greater capacity for large orders, and more options for color and powder coating finishes.
Monday, 14 April 2008
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Source Technologies, a provider of transactional and interactive kiosks, is demonstrating its full line of self-service solutions for bill payments, services, retail, hospitality and financial services industries at this week’s KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show.
Source Technologies will also showcase products currently used by Alltel and Swanson Services Corp. Alltel's BillPay Kiosk and Swanson's tamper-resistant Cobra Kiosk have both been selected as finalists for the KioskCom Award. Source Technologies' clients have received the award for three consecutive years.
Monday, 14 April 2008
ROCKVILLE, Md. — Pay-Ease LLC, a self-service provider specializing in custom hardware and software for processing commerce transactions, will exhibit its multi-functional Automated Commerce Machine at the KioskCom Self Service Expo and Digital Signage Show in Las Vegas on April 16-17 at booth #351.
The Pay-Ease ACM provides local and state governments, utility and insurance companies, as well as retailers, the opportunity to offer citizens and consumers the benefit of paying bills, cashing checks, transferring money, purchasing prepaid cell, long distance cards and print on demand gift cards, DMV services and ATM functions via the ACM.
Pay-Ease is showcasing the latest technology available in a state-of-the-art modularly designed kiosk which processes transactions via cash, check and debit/credit card.
Monday, 14 April 2008
BURNABY, British Columbia — TIO Networks Corp., an automated, non-bank, financial services network, and Cash AdvantEdge, the financial services business unit of Rent-A-Center, announced an agreement to test-market TIO's bill payment products and services in 18 Cash AdvantEdge stores in the United States.
Cash AdvantEdge will test TIO's touchscreen, cash-accepting kiosk terminals. Cash-preferred customers can use these terminals to securely pay their wireless, utility and cable bills as well as to purchase prepaid products and reload stored value cards. The terminals will be deployed to Cash AdvantEdge stores in Denver, Colo., and Memphis, Tenn.
Monday, 14 April 2008
When many Western European governments introduced recycling laws, it didn't take long for kiosk manufacturers to take advantage of the situation. Several companies, including global companies like Wincor Nixdorf International, began developing recycling kiosks that pay consumers to toss certain types of refuse into specialized machines instead of traditional waste bins.
The move has proven a financial windfall for all involved · manufacturers, consumers and the government.
But in the United States, the market for such machines is, well, in the dumps.
In fact, Maryland-based kiosk consultant Francie Mendelsohn, president of Summit Research Associates, said she knows of no company in the country venturing into machines that can be used for recycling purposes. The reasons: little public demand and little projected profitability.
"They chase after the best chance for making a sale," Mendelsohn said. "That tends to be in retail far more than the public sector.
"People in Europe have had a much longer history of being mindful of the environment and what we're doing to it. That's why they're thinking of this. We just throw everything out. We're just slower to get with the program."
Several American companies, including NCR and IBM, say they do not have recycling kiosk programs.
Europe leads the way
A decade ago, as governments across Western Europe tightened restrictions on public waste, representatives of Tomra Inc., a manufacturer of kiosks, watched with anticipation. It eventually changed its business model to solely focus on rolling out recycling kiosks.
Tomra has since produced thousands of machines that are in use throughout the United Kingdom and Japan. The company carved a niche through incentive programs that entice people to recycle.
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Wincor Nixdorf is one of the global companies that manufacture a recycling kiosk.
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"Incentives work. There's no doubt about that," said Aleksander Mortensen, Tomra's vice president of business development for Central and Eastern Europe. Rates of return "depend on the incentive, of course. If it's small, then the return is small. The point is to find the right kind of reward with low cost and high appeal."
In some spots, that has meant machines paying out cash. Others dispense coupons for retail stores. Some give lottery tickets. And some can even donate to a charity whatever cash a consumer would have received.
Those payouts depend on the size and number of material placed in a machine. Tomra's products, like those of its competitors, process plastic and glass bottles.
When a consumer inserts a bottle into the machine, sensors inside the equipment scan the product's size and makeup. If it is plastic, the machine compacts it, flattening it down to a size no thicker than width of an adult finger. Glass bottles are pulverized and stored in the machine.
The compaction processes enable machines, depending on their size, to hold as many as 80,000 containers, Mortensen said. Breaking down the products also saves in transportation costs because haulers are able to cart off more product in a single load, he added.
Today, his company's machines collect tens of thousands of tons of waste every year.
U.S. still a possibility
Tomra, which produces between 3,000 and 6,000 kiosks annually, has worked in recent years to bring its machines to the United States. It has about 1,000 kiosks in operation in California and Michigan, states with bottle bills, that collect upward of 400 tons of recyclable material a year. And Tomra is teaming with Waste Management, one of the United States' largest waste collection firms, on a pilot program to test the feasibility of incentive machines.
"We see we have a business opportunity" in the United States, Mortensen said. "We would be happy to see that we could (spur) a lot of voluntary programs without bottle bills. We have to find good partners and stakeholders and build projects on top of that."
There's hope among foreign manufacturers for turning trash into cash in the United States, but that optimism might be little more than wishful thinking, Mendelsohn said. Until Americans truly make recycling a widespread priority, she sees efforts by companies to set up kiosks around the United States as an exercise in fiscal futility.
Approximately 8,550 curbside recycling programs exist throughout the United States, a lower figure than the 8,875 programs that existed in 2003, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The country recycles 32.5 percent of its waste, a rate that has almost doubled during the past 15 years.
Mendelsohn said companies would have to put scores of machines to use and make them easily accessible for such a program to work. Otherwise, consumers will not see value in spending their time or gas money.
"It's a tough time to introduce (recycling machines), as noble an idea as it is," she said. "You've got to be realistic and prioritize what will sell. People talk about recycling, but it is not a priority to them."
Friday, 11 April 2008
PORTSMOUTH, RI — Self-Service Networks, a provider of turnkey self-service solutions, will exhibit their award finalist solutions at KioskCom Self Service Expo and Digital Signage Show in Las Vegas on April 16-17.
The Electronic Gift Card Dispenser, a gift card sales kiosk deployed with Comdata/SVS, and the Thule Interactive Point of Purchase, a point-of-decision selling solution, have both been nominated as finalists in the Best Retail Deployment category for the Self Service Excellence Awards.
The Self Service Excellence Awards honor innovation in self-service, business solutions and interactive digital media. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony during KioskCom Self Service Expo on Wednesday, April 16th, at 4:15 p.m.
Additionally at the show, Self-Service Networks will exhibit solutions for wayfinding, human resources, corporate communications, bill payment, ticketing, digital signage and financial transactions.
Friday, 11 April 2008
RFID Journal: Food retail research and consulting company Food Information Service Europe is in discussion with retailers in the Netherlands and Belgium to deploy prefabricated automated stores that sell high-end food or other items to customers. The prefab stores incorporate self-locking doors, RFID technology and cameras, so that no staff is required. The concept, known as Food Store 24, was inspired by a similar system employed at the Laxomat self-service convenience stores operated by Laxbutiken, a Swedish restaurant operator specializing in salmon.
Read more
Thursday, 10 April 2008
WEST CHESTER, Pa. — Cash transactions cost retailers far less than the average two percent fee incurred from signature debit and credit transactions. MEI has released a new toolkit that makes it easier for retailers to accept cash transactions in their kiosks and self-checkout systems. MEI designed the Point of Service Toolkit (MPOST) — an industry first — to reduce the integration time of bill validators by at least 50 percent.
Integrating a bill validator using an MPOST toolkit and a USB interface now is as easy as integrating a card reader — a plug-and-play approach. The toolkit includes a flash download capability, an easy-to-use-library, advanced error handling, automatic device and currency detection and configuration, unit auditing and test and demo programs.
“MPOST reduces the costs and technical challenges of introducing cash acceptors into a self-service system,” said Dave McLaughlin, engineering director for MEI's retail channel. “Cash has been shown to increase the revenue of self service devices, and we have developed this software tool to ease integration and help retailers realize the full benefits of their self service units.”
For more information about MEI and its products, visit www.meigroup.com or call 800-345-8215.
Wednesday, 09 April 2008
Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal: Entrepreneur Don Brock combines nonprofit giving with fast-paced technology and has made it a mission and an occupation. Brock, a native of Reidsville, founded SecurePointe Technologies to help nonprofit organizations streamline the receipt of donations and allow easier transactions using debit and credit cards.
Read more
Wednesday, 09 April 2008
MEQUON, Wis. — D2 Sales LLC has announced that Geisinger Medical System of Danville, Pa., has chosen a semi-custom version of the My Patient Passport Express kiosk for its patient check-in program. Geisinger is a physician-led health care system, dedicated to health care, education, research and service spanning 40 counties of 20,000 square miles and serving 2.5 million people.
The My Patient Passport Express kiosk allows patients to check-in, make future appointments, and update their medical history, all using a touchscreen kiosk with HIPPA compliant custom privacy panels. Patients can use their credit card to make co-pay payments, and sign documents using the integrated electronic signature pad. In addition to the monitor on the kiosk, Geisinger has added a custom designed backlit panel with changeable translucent graphic art inserts to the top of the kiosk to promote its use.
“Geisinger worked with D2 to customize the My Patient Passport Express healthcare kiosk and make it their own,” said Sandra Nix, D2’s CEO. “The addition of the privacy panels and backlit graphic panel are just two of many optional features D2 offers that allow health care facilities to easily create an original, customized patient check-in solution to meet their specific needs,” Nix added.
Wednesday, 09 April 2008
ROCKVILLE, Md. — Summit Research Associates Inc., the only consulting firm devoted to the kiosk industry, is proud to announce the publication of the completely new Seventh Edition of its popular flagship report, Kiosks and Interactive Technology. This report — the most comprehensive ever produced on the kiosk industry — examines recent trends, provides projections for the kiosk installed base, CAGR and revenues from the present time through 2010.
The news remains good: Kiosk deployments are rapidly expanding and the future continues to look bright. The report also includes 53 charts and tables on the leading kiosk issues and examines the industry from many perspectives, including the average cost of a kiosk, average number of users per day, average length of time spent at the kiosk, leading design issues, leading types of peripherals used, most popular kiosk applications and leading development issues. The statistics were compiled from an extensive survey sent to hundreds of deployers, end-users and total solution providers around the world. Where appropriate, the results are presented as worldwide totals and also are grouped into the four major regions: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World.
More than 680 companies are profiled in the report, including 3M Microtouch, Appleton, Apunix, Blackstone, Coinstar, Compushop Services, Cyphermint, Diebold Inc., DynaTouch Corp., EAO, ELO Touchsystems Inc., Epson America Inc., Frank Mayer & Associates Inc., Fujitsu, Hand Held Products, Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM, Itautec, JCM American Corp., King Products, Netkey, Pitney-Bowes, PhotoChannel, Planar Systems Inc., Provisio GmbH, Resolute TAP Services, St. Clair Interactive Communications Inc., Seiko Instruments, Storefront.com, The Kiosk Factory, TIO Networks Corp., Whitech, Wincor Nixdorf GmbH Co. & KG and Zebra Technologies Corp.
The report provides detailed information on these and other companies — representing 44 countries — in the kiosk industry, discussing the market segments they target (including key customers), their featured applications, key design and development issues they face, what sets them apart from the competition and other valuable statistics of interest to kiosk industry professionals targeting the leading market sectors such as retail, entertainment, government, financial and transportation.
The report — available as a PDF sent electronically or on CD-ROM — sells for $2,195.00 (USD) and includes shipping and handling. Purchasors also will receive an Excel spreadsheet containing all of the Kiosk Industry Directory information at no additional cost, enabling them to organize the data to meet their particular needs. For example, purchasors who want to find all the U.S.-based enclosure manufacturers or the turnkey solution providers in India, can sort the data and quickly find them.
For order information, visit Summit's Web site at www.summit-res.com.
Tuesday, 08 April 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. — A growing legion of North American consumers use self-service in their everyday lives, and the latest research from NCR Corp. shows an increasing percentage of individuals actually favor businesses that offer "do-it-myself" options.
The third annual NCR Self-Service Consumer survey, conducted by BuzzBack Market Research, reveals that 86 percent of U.S. and Canadian consumers say they are more likely to do business with a company that offers the flexibility to interact using self-service — whether via the Internet, on a mobile device or at a kiosk or ATM. That’s an increase of 11 percent over those who gave the same response in last year’s study. Moreover, 56 percent say their likelihood to use self-service has increased over the past year.
"These survey results are symbolic of what lies ahead for self-service," said NCR chairman and chief executive officer Bill Nuti, who announced the survey results at the NCR Self-Service Universe executive conference in Orlando. "The self-service revolution is real: consumers demand it, businesses depend on it."
In addition to being more likely to do business with enterprises offering self-service, 66 percent of the survey respondents say the availability of self-service technologies creates a more positive perception of the deployer’s brand.
Tuesday, 08 April 2008
DAYTON, Ohio – NCR Corp., a leading provider of self-service solutions, today introduced CVM Mobility, a suite of services that lets patients use their mobile phones or other mobile devices to receive appointment reminders and other alerts, pay bills and access lab results.
Patients may opt in for all of these features based on personal preference through NCR’s CVM Online Self-Service portal solution. CVM Mobility is designed to help reduce missed appointments, enhance collections and improve staff productivity for healthcare organizations while providing added convenience to patients.
According to the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions’ 2008 Survey of Healthcare Consumers, 60 percent of patients want online access to their physicians, medical records, test results and same-day appointments. In addition, one in four respondents indicated they would pay more to physicians for these digital services.
“On-the-go consumers expect to be able to conduct an increasing number of everyday transactions via their mobile devices, which are, by and large, Internet-capable,” said Chakri Toleti, vice president of health-care industry marketing at NCR. “At the same time, health care organizations are starting to understand how mobile-phone services can minimize no-shows, expedite communications with patients and impact the bottom line.”
To notify patients of appointments, pending bills or other announcements, CVM Mobility transmits reminders and alerts as text messages in the widely used SMS (Short Message Service) protocol or as voice messages to mobile, home or office phones. Patients also can use their Internet-capable mobile devices to pay outstanding medical bills or balances. In addition, CVM Mobility also offers secure, HIPAA-compliant delivery of normal laboratory or test results by mobile phone, minimizing outbound dialing duties for healthcare staff.
CVM Mobility is part of a comprehensive suite of products that allows hospitals and clinics to provide patient self-service capabilities such as the NCR MediKiosk patient check-in solution, preregistration via the Web, Online BillPay, eSignature for digital capture of patient signatures and eClipboards, NCR’s wireless patient check-in solution.
Monday, 07 April 2008
SYDNEY, Australia — SPOS, an Australian point of purchase provider, and St. Clair Interactive have announced a partnership agreement. SPOS will distribute and support a broad range of transactional kiosk software based on application software templates and Remote Management packages from St. Clair, one of the world’s leading developers of touchscreen self-service.
St. Clair software has been installed in 11 countries and many languages for retail, financial services, leisure industries, healthcare and ticketing.
Monday, 07 April 2008
LAS VEGAS — Verizon Wireless is breaking new ground in the U.S. wireless retail experience with the introduction of a new store design in more than 280 company-owned stores.
The stores offer consumers a high-tech and hands-on experience with wireless voice, data, music and video services. The store features a bright new design and integrates a number of innovative self-service systems and operational enhancements designed to streamline the sales process and enhance the customer experience.
Verizon Wireless has already rolled out the design in more than 100 locations nationwide and plans to introduce the new design in more than 180 additional locations by the end of the year.
Some of the store’s new features include:
- A demo zone where customers can explore, experiment and learn using interactive touchscreens or be guided by product-savvy sales staff
- More than 55 working models of handsets, PC cards and other devices for customers to try
- A greeter kiosk that allows customers to check in once they enter the store and list their wireless needs, so representatives can quickly assist them
- A bill payment kiosk that allows customers to make account payments quickly and easily using checks, cash or credit/debit cards
- Customer service and technical support departments, making it easy for customers to get account information, access customer service and address technical issues from trained in-store staff
Most but not all of these features will be incorporated in new stores depending on overall space at the locations. Existing stores also incorporate some of these features, such as the customer service and technical support departments and greeter and bill payment kiosks.
Monday, 07 April 2008
The (Richmond, Va.) Times-Dispatch: Customers at two Richmond-area Hardee's restaurants can use touchscreen kiosks to order and pay for their food. The kiosks are part of a test for franchise operator Boddie-Noell to see whether customer service improves. "It is really all about speed of service, ordering accurately and giving customers another way to get their order quicker," said Jerry Allsbrook, senior vice president of marketing for Boddie-Noell, the largest Hardee's franchisee in the U.S. It operates 346 restaurants in four states, including Virginia.
Read more
Monday, 07 April 2008
LONDON — Ryanair has said it will submit a High Court appeal against the Irish aviation regulator's recent decision to allow a Dublin airport to increase charges to airlines.
The low-cost carrier claims the Dublin Airport Authority has allowed a 50-percent hike in check-in desk charges and a doubling of charges for check-in kiosks at Dublin airport.
“Airport costs at most UK and European airports are falling thanks to lower cost facilities and competition. But in Ireland this regulator is allowing ... price increases at the DAA monopoly,” said Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's chief executive.
For more coverage, click here.
Monday, 07 April 2008
DVD rental kiosks have stormed the marketplace with much success. But a single ingredient in the kiosks " R-rated movies " could hinder future success based on the actions of a few city councils in the Midwestern United States.
City councils in Indiana, Kansas and Texas have recently pressured locations that house redbox kiosks, including McDonald's and Wal-Mart, to remove R-rated movies from its contents. And in some cities, kiosk owners have relented.
Union City, Ind., Mayor Bryan Conklin began pressuring the owner of the town's only McDonalds in Sept. 2007 to remove its R-rated titles after residents complained that it was too easy for youngsters to rent the age-inappropriate movies. Union City McDonald's owner Rick Reichenbach agreed to take the R-rated titles out after being threatened with a public nuisance citation.
Since that incident, communities such as Anthony, Kan., and Winchester, Ind., have taken steps to remove R-rated movies from other DVD rental kiosks. Their actions are supported by Video Buyers Group, an organization that supports independent video retailers. VBG has contacted dozens of city councils and retailers in Midwestern communities in an effort to remove R-rated movies from kiosks at McDonald's and Wal-Mart.
"This is an issue of values," said Jon Engen, VBG's head of marketing. "McDonald's is a family place, yet they are not doing anything to stop these youngsters from getting R-rated movies."
There is no federal law that stipulates it is illegal to sell or rent R-rated movies to persons under the age of 17, but many video stores, retail stores, movie theaters and vendors adhere to the Motion Picture Association of America's voluntary film ratings system. Under those guidelines, an R-rated motion picture may include adult themes, hard language, violence, sexually-oriented nudity and drug abuse. Children under 17 are not allowed to attend R-rated motion pictures unaccompanied by a parent or adult guardian.
Engen said the DVD rental kiosks are similar to the old cigarette vending machines.
"Sure there were signs that said you have to be of a certain age to buy (the cigarettes), but that didn't stop anybody from getting them," Engen said. "These (DVD kiosks) are left unattended and easily accessible to children."
Redbox disagrees.
Gary Lancina, VP of Marketing for redbox, said the appropriate measures are in place to allow parents and families to make educated choices regarding age-appropriate entertainment options when using redbox kiosks.
"Consistent with industry standards, you must confirm that you are 18 years of age or older, with a valid debit or credit card, to rent an R-rated movie," Lancina said. "Any time a customer selects a R-rated title, a screen appears informing the customer that they will be renting a DVD with a R-rating. Customers then have a chance to select a different movie or proceed with their rental."
DVDPlay, which owns approximately 1,400 DVD rental kiosks nationwide, has not had anyone contact them about R-rated movies. All of DVDPlay's kiosks have legal information that says the renter must be 18 years or order, said Lisa Gerber, a DVDPlay spokeswoman. In addition, the DVD kiosks do not accept cash, only credit cards.
"We hope that the person that uses the credit card is indeed the owner, and is therefore legally renting that movie," Gerber said.
Hurting business?
More than 6,000 redbox kiosks are at locations across the United States. It plans to add at least 4,000 more at Wal-Mart and Walgreen's locations. The number of R-rated movies at any one kiosk differs from location to location.
"Because of the convenient "rent here, return anywhere" capability of the redbox network of locations, the specific selection of films in a given redbox kiosk varies from week to week, and even day to day," Lancina said. "We are confident that the percentage of R-rated titles in our locations is, on average, well below the historical 58 percent average of the industry."
According to the MPAA, R-rated films constituted 58 percent of films by rating from 1968 through 2006, and the percentage of R-rated films has been on the rise over the past five years. Redbox actually rejects the majority of R-rated films that studios solicit, Lancina said. In contrast, the majority of G, PG, and PG-13 films solicited to redbox are in turn made available to customers.
A look at five redbox kiosks in the Louisville, Ky., area showed that on average, of the approximate 185 titles in each kiosk, about 73 titles were R-rated, with another 10 titles unrated. An unrated classification means the movie was not submitted to the Motion Picture Association of America for a rating.
That number was surprisingly large to kiosk consultant Francie Mendelsohn, president of Summit Research Associates. Though, she said that these small towns removing one or two kiosks will not be an issue to redbox. However, if a larger city were to remove dozens of the kiosks, the impact could be felt.
"If a place like Louisville were to say, "no, we're not going to have these movies in our town," then the DVD kiosk companies might have a problem," Mendelsohn said.
Unrated movies are also an issue for the VBG, Engen said. Many of those titles have more violence and sex than R-rated movies. Since last year, redbox has discontinued the purchase of unrated versions of R-rated movies and has even advised studios to not solicit unrated versions of films, as they will be rejected outright, Lancina said.
He also noted, though, that many of the unrated titles in redbox kiosks are family friendly. The vast majority of unrated movies purchased by redbox consists of family features such as "High School Musical," "Hannah Montana," "Bob the Builder," "SpongeBob Squarepants" and "Dora the Explorer."
Though removing R-rated movies from kiosks has been effective in some towns, Mendelsohn said she thinks it's nothing for DVD kiosk companies to worry about right now.
"I think it could affect the companies if this movement were more widespread," she said. "I don't see the DVD companies losing a lot of sleep over it now."
Engen said his goal is not to have Redbox kiosks removed, but for them to adhere to the same standards that many retail and video stores follow.
"I live in a community where allowing underage children to watch R-rated movies is unacceptable," Engen said.
Friday, 04 April 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. — “We are truly at an inflection point,” said Bill Nuti, NCR Corp.’s chairman and chief executive. “Businesses are forced to interact with a consumer that is changing.”
Long story short, like the ever-changing and evolving technology paradigm, consumers are changing, and they want to interact with businesses at an ever-accelerating pace. Businesses, in their quest to keep up, are looking to self-service and multichannel strategies more than ever before.
At least that’s the way the head of the Dayton, Ohio-based self-service giant sees it, and it’s a message he and the rest of the NCR team are touting to customers and journalists from various industries and markets during NCR’s third-annual Self-Service Universe Executive Conference.
‘The revolution is real’
During his opening address Thursday, Nuti quoted 10 ideas recently published by Time Magazine that are changing the world.
Of the ideas, which range from the so-called “Post-Movie-Star Era” to “Reverse Radicalism,” is a section dedicated to “The End of Customer Service.” And guess what spurred the notion to be pinged by Time as one of the top-10? Answer: An overwhelming shift among retailers, the hospitality industry, banking institutions and more to increased use of self-service.
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Bill Nuti, NCR Corp.’s chairman and chief executive, speaks at NCR’s third-annual Self-Service Universe Executive Conference.
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In fact, among Time’s top-10, this move to more self-service listed as the No. 2 “big idea.”
So, is that movement or migration a good thing? Yes, not surprisingly, says Nuti, whose company is betting on the self-service shift.
But does the shift represent, as Time would lead readers to believe, an end to customer service? Quite the contrary, Nuti says.
Quoting statistics from its most-recent annual consumer survey, which polls users in North America, Europe, China, Japan and Australia, Nuti says NCR found that consumers are increasingly demanding and using self-service.
Looking specifically at the United States and Canada, the 500 North America consumers who participated in the March 2008 survey, 86 percent said they were more likely to do business with companies that offer self-service. That’s a 12 percent increase from just last year. And, even more striking, Nuti says, is that no respondents said they would be less likely to do business with a company that offers self-service – a minority category that accounted for 2 percent of last year’s results.
Additionally, around 56 percent said their likelihood to use self-service has increased over the last 12 months. (Click here to download the full survey.)
Respondents also said the use of self-service positively impacted, in their minds, brand image. In fact, 66 percent said they positively viewed brands that use or offer self-service technologies.
“The ‘Self-Service Revolution’ is driven by the desire for something better,” Nuti said.
It’s a revolution that’s being driven by technology enhancements, technology affordability and a desire on the part of the consumer to do more for himself. One merely needs to look to the speed at which consumers have embraced the Internet and wireless technology, Nuti says, to see that the adoption of self-service is only going to become more widespread, crossing every socio-economic, ethnic and generational sphere.
Ultimately, Nuti says, self-service will enhance, not harm, customer service.
“One of the true values of customer service is personalization,” he said. “By offering consumers more choices, you improve personalization. You must have networks and self-service options that meet the needs of customers in order to survive. The age of the multichannel consumer has finally arrived.”
Thursday, 03 April 2008
Baseline: The major data breach affecting Hannaford Brothers grocery chain isn’t record-setting in terms of the volume of records exposed — the 4.2 million records breached is dwarfed by the 94 million records exposed during the TJX breach. But the Hannaford breach is groundbreaking in its own way, because this massive security incident is the first publicly-reported exposure to hit a retailer that claims to have been certified as compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI).
Read more
Thursday, 03 April 2008
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A preliminary analysis of the effect of radio frequency identification on retail-inventory accuracy demonstrated that an automated, RFID-enabled inventory system improved accuracy by about 13 percent in test stores compared to control stores. The investigation, conducted by researchers in the RFID Research Center, a research unit of the Information Technology Research Institute in the Sam M. Walton College of Business, also revealed that manual inventory adjustments by store personnel significantly declined in test stores due to the automated, RFID-based system.
"Inventory accuracy is one of the keys to an efficient and effective supply chain," said Bill Hardgrave, director of the research center and principal investigator. "Yet, inventory accuracy, which determines important processes such as ordering and replenishment, is often poor, with inaccuracy rates sometimes as high as 65 percent. Our results suggest that RFID technology makes a difference. The 13-percent improvement found in this study can significantly reduce unnecessary inventory, and the value of this reduction for a company like Wal-Mart, with all of its suppliers, can be measured in millions of dollars."
Inventory accuracy is a chronic problem in the retail industry. Retailers focus on what they call "perpetual inventory," a name to describe an estimate of inventory, based on various systems and methods of tracking items. As Hardgrave mentioned, previous research has demonstrated huge gaps between perpetual inventory — what managers think is on hand — versus the actual number of items in a store, either on shelves or in a stock room. Studies have found that retailers generally have accurate inventory information on only 35 percent of their items.
Perpetual inventory can be understated or overstated. Understated, sometimes called hidden inventory, means that perpetual inventory shows fewer items than what are actually in the store. Conversely, overstated, also known as phantom inventory, describes a store in which perpetual inventory shows more inventory than items on hand.
Incorrect manual adjustments by personnel, stolen products, damaged or spoiled products not recorded as such, returned products not properly accounted for, incorrect shipments from distribution centers and cashier error are the six major causes of inventory inaccuracy, which can lead to out-of-stock items or excess inventory. Because of inventory inaccuracy, systems may order unnecessary product or fail to order product that is needed. Hardgrave emphasized that the net result of inventory inaccuracy, as reported in other research, is an estimated 10 percent reduction in profit.
Focusing only on understated inaccuracies, the Arkansas study involved 16 Wal-Mart stores — eight test stores and a matching set of eight control stores. Test stores were selected from the existing set of approximately 1,000 RFID-enabled Wal-Mart stores. Control stores were then chosen based on a set of criteria used to determine a comparable profile, including demographics, size of stores measured by square feet, annual sales and the absence of known impacts such as annual inventories, remodeling or resets, market trials and other known disruptions. The research sample contained a mixture of Supercenter and Neighborhood Market stores.
For 23 weeks — from May through October 2007 — a national inventory auditing group hand-counted all individual items in the air freshener category in all 16 stores. A single category was chosen to provide the opportunity to tag all cases in that category. The daily inventory of a particular store started at approximately the same time each day, and the auditors followed the same counting pattern — starting at bottom left and working to the right and then up. Stores were counted between the hours of 4 and 8 p.m.
Test stores were equipped with RFID readers/antennas at various backroom locations — receiving doors, sales floor doors and box crusher. Control stores had no RFID technology. Test stores were provided with a perpetual-inventory adjustment system, dubbed "auto PI," that automatically adjusted understated inventory. Other than the auto-PI system in the test stores, which worked automatically without human intervention, no additional manipulations were introduced, meaning both sets of stores operated business as usual, and store personnel were instructed to carry out their jobs in the same way they would in normal situations.
RFID, via the auto-PI system, served as a supplement to the existing process of adjusting inventory so that results of the study would demonstrate how effective RFID is beyond existing processes. Control store personnel did not modify or stop their manual adjustments. Finally, to establish a baseline for perpetual-inventory accuracy, inventory was counted for 10 weeks before auto-PI system was turned on.
Data revealed that the percentage of understated items off by more than two units fell by 13 percent in the test stores compared to control stores. Furthermore, the RFID-enabled auto-PI system doubled the number of inventory adjustments, suggesting that only half of all manual adjustments are caught in a given retail store. Hardgrave emphasized that increasing the number of manual adjustments to equal those captured automatically by the system would accordingly increase labor dedicated to this task and thus distract workers from stocking shelves or assisting customers.
"Instead, as demonstrated in our study," he said, "perpetual-inventory accuracy was improved with no additional labor."
Thursday, 03 April 2008
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: AT&T says it will start using Microsoft Surface computers in selected retail stores later this month, becoming the first to roll out the interactive digital screens. AT&T said its retail customers will be able to place specific mobile phones on Surface's 30-inch screen to learn about features, accessories and rate plans. They also will be able to compare two phones at a time, and use their hands to navigate a high-tech wireless coverage map.
Read more
Thursday, 03 April 2008
The success of KIOSK EUROPE magazine, launched in 2004, prompted publisher hf media & events to launch KIOSK EUROPE EXPO in 2007. Preparing for its second opening, hf media intends to build on last year’s achievement.
“The 2007 event was a great success and showed the huge growth potential for self-service across Europe,” said Nilima Patwardhan, IBM’s marketing manager, on KIOSK EUROPE’s Web site.
Show operators hope this year will be another success after grabbing companies such as Fujitsu, Hughes, IBM, Panasonic, Sony and Wincor Nixdorf to participate in the 2008 show. This year’s event will be held May 6-8 at Messe Essen near Dusseldorf, Germany.
Visitors to KIOSK EUROPE EXPO 2008 will have a unique opportunity to see, experience and discuss the very latest advances in interactive customer self-service solutions by suppliers and innovators from across the globe, organizers say.
The show’s Self-Service Solutions Forum will feature a range of individual presentations from leading self-service solutions providers, and a Panel Workshop, where industry experts and self-service professionals will provide hands-on information on how to successfully implement self-service, offering examples from various markets. The experts will be available to discuss and offer advice on attendees’ self-service questions and challenges.
The forum primarily is aimed at those who are in the planning or early stages of a self-service deployment, and will provide engaging and relevant information about the theory and practical implementation of kiosk technology. The program alternates between topic-focused and application-focused presentations illustrated with real-life examples and case studies.
hf media & events also launched Digital Signage Expo this year. The event, which will cover topics such as in-store TV, digital media, ad screens, content and solutions, will be held in tandem with KIOSK EUROPE.
Thursday, 03 April 2008
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — At the upcoming KioskCom Self Service Expo, Source Technologies, a provider of transactional and interactive kiosks and secure MICR technologies, is demonstrating its full line of self-service solutions including products currently used by Alltel and Swanson Services Corp. Both of these organizations are finalists for KioskCom Awards.
Among the kiosks highlighted, Source Technologies will feature the following award-nominated solutions:
1) Alltel’s BillPay Kiosk: Alltel implemented Source Technologies’ concourse BillPay application to allow customers to pay bills without waiting in line for a customer service or sales representative. Alltel’s staff now focuses on better customer service and additional sales. The application runs on Source Technologies’ concourse 5-Series transactional self-service kiosks.
2) Swanson Services Corp.’s Cobra Kiosk: Swanson Services partnered with Source Technologies to develop the Cobra Kiosk, a unique self-service solution to implement into correctional facilities. The kiosk is a self-contained, wall-mountable device with a 12.1-inch shatter proof, armored touchscreen, liquid and tamper-proof casing, wireless capabilities and a highly secure lock. This kiosk is reliable and specifically designed to withstand the rigors of possible abuse by inmates.
Source Technologies has been recognized by KioskCom for three consecutive years. The company was awarded for Best Financial Services Deployment for Purchase, NY-based Quorum Federal Credit Union’s deployment of its concourse kiosks, and for Swanson Service’s kiosk installations at state and local correctional facilities.
Tuesday, 01 April 2008
(Tampa Bay, Fla.) Channel 10: A high-end sports bar in downtown Atlanta has installed beer taps at the table. Stats Sports Bar has built beer taps into some of the tables in the bar, giving patrons the option to serve themselves. The tables have two built-in taps. They still need waitresses to check customers' ID's. Otherwise, it's pour your own. Customers are charged 25 cents an ounce for every drop, and that includes the foam. The taps automatically shut off after about 3 pitchers worth.
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Tuesday, 01 April 2008
EXTON, Pa. — Scala, a provider of end-to-end solutions for the digital signage market, has announced DDS Poland, a Scala Certified Partner, has won the prestigious POPAI Bronze Statue Award for its implementation of their Beeblue Bluetooth-activated kiosk for Samsung.
DDS Poland’s award entry was a self-service kiosk for Samsung. The kiosk employs the BeeBlue Integrated Bluetooth Marketing Solution for Bluetooth proximity, creating a 100 meter hot spot for Class 2.0 Bluetooth devices. Driven by Scala InfoChannel, the kiosk displays two channels of brand advertising and interactive product information. The kiosk presents two screens, a 22-inch LCD displaying brand advertising and product information, the lower screen is an interactive 17-inch or 19-inch LCD screen allowing customers to interact with the kiosk. The kiosk features directional sound systems or headphones, distance sensors and RFID sensors. The kiosk provides customers with music, videos, wallpaper images, coupons and promotions all ready for download directly from the kiosk.
Samsung’s goal was to show the features of their new mobile handsets. Interested customers are attracted to the kiosk with the promise of free content, using DDS’s Beeblue Bluetooth proximity solution, while learning more about Samsung’s products and services. Kiosks are deployed in mobile phone stores and other locations where the public would be likely to be attracted.
The first kiosks were deployed in December 2007 and Samsung has 12 kiosks in service while they prepare for their next deployment.
Tuesday, 01 April 2008
MEQUON, Wis. — D2 Sales LLC has announced that Children’s Memorial Hospital of Chicago has added the My Patient Passport Express kiosk for its patient check-in program. The My Patient Passport Express kiosk allows patients to check-in, make future appointments and update their medical history all using a user-friendly touchscreen. Patients can use their credit card to make co-pay payments, and sign documents using the integrated electronic signature pad. The kiosks also provide records updating, co-pay payment acceptance and wayfinding and mapping features.
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