Article

Fortunes telling

Contributing Editor Lief Larson predicts what the New Year will bring for the hottest self-service applications.

December 6, 2004 by

1. Digital Finishing and Printing
The sale of digital cameras continues to outpace the sale of traditional film cameras. With so many digital files floating around, the demand for the ability to transform those files into good, old-fashioned print pictures has never been higher. While Kodak continues its leadership position, others, such as Fuji and Sony, are gaining ground. Expect 2005 to usher in the age of digital photography, and look for a new host of options at these kiosks, such as downloading images from cell phones and other handheld devices, to different ways to process prints.

2. Quick Service Food Ordering
The king of burgers has dabbled with them. The golden arches has used them in pilot locations around the world. By the end of 2005, expect to see little signs stating "order here" located everywhere. Self-service food ordering is hot with consumers and cool to operators. It's a proven technology that costs less, works double shifts, noticeably decreases order errors, and sells up-sizes with greater frequency.

3. Anything Outside
Kiosk technology has finally tamed the elements. No longer are temperatures, precipitation, or sunlight severely hampering interactive, self-service applications in the great outdoors. Want visibility on a street corner? Need customer service in the parking lot? You will see in the year to come numerous kiosk applications shaking hands with Mother Nature.

4. Cellular Phone Top-up and Ringtones
Alexander Graham Bell once summed up his approach to life and invention when he said, "Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods. Every time you do so, you will be certain to find something that you have never seen before." For all of you out there looking to diversify your service offerings and income streams, the New Year will bring a tremendous opportunity to meet the demands of millions of cell phone users by allowing them to top-up their credits and buy ringtones at your terminals.

5. Bill Payment
Sure, many of us pay our bills with a check or online. But for the millions of un-banked Americans, and people who show up at the right time and place and want to take care of a little personal business, expect a new generation of bill-payment kiosks next year. Not only will we see new stand-alone terminals, but bill payment also will appear as a major add-on feature to existing multifunctional kiosks.

6. Multi-Kiosk
If one location is successful for an application, why not have several applications? This is a concept being tested by several kiosk suppliers. Imagine going up to a kiosk and accessing the exact service you need. It's now more possible than ever with a new generation of Swiss Army Knife-type kiosks.

7. RFID Verification and Administration
Target and Wal-Mart are both moving closer to the day when every product they sell will be identified with radio-frequency identification tags. RFID is sure to become mainstream within the next five years, but it's already receiving praise now. The way it works is kind of like faith: You cannot see it, hear it or touch it, but you know it's there. Now think of kiosks like a church where you go to get closer to RFID: In 2005, kiosks will be used increasingly to proselytize the skeptical.

8. Registration
Whether you're checking into a hotel or filling out insurance information at the E.R., kiosks will be the customer-facing technology of choice for front desks around the country. The queue-busting capabilities of kiosks have already captured the hearts and lobbies of all types of businesses, but the best is yet to come.

The time-terse public, understandably, is welcoming the empowerment provided by kiosks of this type. But the adoption didn't happen overnight. Seven years ago, Hilton Hotels played around with the technology before the public was ready. Even though kiosks were not met with success at the time, Hilton is once again on the march and will deploy them to many of its properties over the next year. Where the machines are available, more than 10 percent of the customers use them.

9. After-Hours Service
So you're open 9-5, but what about the other 16 hours of the day? Unattended, after-hours kiosks could be the next best thing to 24/7 service, but without the hassles, costs and ROI dice-roll. Interactive, self-service kiosks are popping up everywhere from storage rental facilities to touch-through-glass window-shopping. If staying open when you're closed is ever going to become a fad, it's going to happen in 2005.

10. Convergence
We've been talking about ATMs becoming more like kiosks for years, but the morphing just hasn't gotten into gear. Maybe it's the technology? The timing? One thing is for sure, though: The idea hasn't gone away. The year 2005 could very likely begin a transitional period for the ATM. The backbone of the application is still people wanting to get their hands on cash, but expect to see many other services popping up in a new generation of machines. Take a look at the forerunning Mink-Bank 2500 kiosk-ATM, recently debuted by Livewire International and Tranax Technologies. Besides dispensing cash, the hybrid also allows customers to buy tickets, phone cards and gift cards, and cash checks.

11. Contextual Placement
Moving away from the traditional stand-alone kiosk is the smaller and thinner form-factor kiosk built for point of display and end-caps within retail environments. Retailers are finally embracing the concept, but interestingly are not keen on funding the introduction of devices. Thus, the burden of developing, deploying and controlling the small kiosks will fall on the brand manufacturer, who will use retail space on a consignment basis.

The information provided at these kiosks will be used to position and differentiate products. In fact, systems that dispense coupons right beside the interface are now in tests.

12. Music and Movie Burning
It was all the rage at this year's The Kiosk Show, but developing the capability to deliver digital content to a kiosk and then burn a CD or DVD has been a daunting task. Technologically speaking, many hurdles have existed. For example, will customers be willing to wait 5 to 10 minutes for the burning process? Then there's the content. How can you license the thousands of titles necessary to make the kiosk appealing to consumers? Some kiosk on the market have tried to address these issues and others, but expect 2005 to be the breakthrough year for self-service media creation.

13. Intuitive Systems
One of the most exciting areas of kiosk technology is that of human dynamics. More often kiosk technology is migrating away from a simple browser-type interface and to more of an intelligent content delivery system based on user needs and preferences. The user interface is becoming more user-friendly, while at the same time doing a better job of keying in to the complex nature of consumers.

One forerunner is WiseVillage. The company just released their first kiosk, known as WiseStation, where the user can browse through rich, graphic renderings of stores and streets in a village that looks three-dimensional and vibrant, rather than having to navigate through text-based directories and menus. Users navigate the village areas almost in the same way they would navigate a physical space, but using their fingers on a touch screen to click on areas of interest instead of their feet to walk from store to store.

The year 2005 will mark the turning point in kiosk technology and the hunt for a more human-like experience.

14. Digital Displays
Dynamic signage and digital displays are nothing new, but they are hot right now. Although they are not interactive in nature, they do a brilliant job of delivering high-impact images and video. A public desensitization of traditional media will make this new content delivery methodology successful. The year 2005 will be a benchmark year for the future digital content in public spaces, and in some cases kiosks will be there to help. In both retail and banking environments, we are seeing kiosks that control secondary digital displays. As the prices come down for display screens, expect to see greater rollout volume.

15. Intelligent Vending
Ever more kiosk applications in 2005 will be based around the traditional vending model. New kiosk appliances will be come out that will allow customers to purchase products and services directly at the kiosk. From buying movie passes, fishing licenses and train tickets to settling parking fines and taxes, expect kiosks to automate menial task completion. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. We've been hearing stories about buying burial plots at kiosks, and a kiosk that functions as a robot tour guide.

The writer is founder and publisher emeritus of KIOSKand a Kiosks.org Association Hall of Famer.