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Commentary: What's hot in kiosks

KIOSK's Craig Keefner weighs in on the industry's latest trends.

June 8, 2011

I was recently chatting with Francie Mendelsohn, president of Summit Research Associates,aboutwhat I thought was hot these days as far as the kiosk business. She thought my list was pretty good, and so here it is:

What's Hot
The major segment lately has been recycling and green kiosks. Waste Management with Pepsi and Greenopolis along with B-cycle rentals that run on solar power. Bill pay has been very strong and that also feeds into the third segment, which is Customer Flow (take a number, check-in, check-out, etc). As far as tablets and mobile go. there is a lot of room in that market especially on the Android side. Transactions via near field communications (NFC) are driving that growth. Recent pilots being managed by Google at major retailers is clear evidence of that (actions speak louder than words).

According to Thin Client, because Google is marketing one of the two phones in the world with NFC chips inside (Nokia's C7 is the other), and because it writes its own phone software, it is best positioned right now to offer mobile-payment products, some observers say.

NFC as an m-commerce implementation has been around for a while. In the vending industry, Microtronic is one company that offers NFC-compatible devices for vending machines. NFC uses the same data communications protocols as EMV-compliant contactless smart cards ("tap-and-go" media). EMV is short for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, a global standard for interoperation of integrated circuit (IC) or "chip" cards.

Google is partnering with Sprint, MasterCard, Citi and FirstData for payment services. Macy's, Subway, Walgreens, Toys R Us, Bloomingdale's, Guess and Noah's Bagels are among the first participating retailers.

Google reportedly will not charge a fee for Google Wallet transactions. The company's main interest is collecting and selling data on consumer buying habits.

Trade shows
Speaking for myself, it sounded like the winner here was Las Vegas when it comes to trade shows. Vegas is more of a melting pot. It is less expensive and having everyone in hotels interconnected makes for cleaner social engagements (i.e. drinks after the show). Traffic this year at CETWwasn't what it should've been from what I heard, but I am sure adjustments and tweaks are being made.

Health Care Research Report
I am looking for any background regarding a study that the Pittsburgh VA Medical Center did. The study talks about health care kiosk markets expected to top $800 million by 2013. A corporate strategy group, with a major health care company, has asked me if I can help. I've tried without success to locate the study and if you can assist I would appreciate it.

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In return, I would appreciate if you would consider donating a small amount to WaterAid, an international charity. WaterAid's mission is to overcome poverty by enabling the world's poorest people to gain access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education. Donations can be made here.

Craig Keefner, channel manager at KIOSK Information Systems, has been involved in the kiosk industry for more than 20 years. In 2000, he teamed up with Networld Alliance to start Kiosk Market Place.

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