News

Interpreting the kiosk industry

Three days in Orlando and a really heavy dictionary give KIOSKmarketplace editor John Harrell an opportunity to ponder where the kiosk industry is headed.

April 9, 2002

There are a number of dictionaries of various shapes and sizes laying around the cubicles of NetWorld Alliance, just enough to supply a roaming journalist with an overabundant sense of curiosity about the meaning of words.

Meaning matters, especially when one discusses an industry that is evolving, such as, say, the electronic kiosk industry.

Which is why the search for vocabulary harmony is so important on a rainy, chilly late March day in Kentucky. Basketball season is all but over for the locals - except those still alive in their NCAA Tournament company pools; my glorious sportswriting past has not helped, as I am next-to-last in the NetWorld pool - and the Kentucky Derby is still weeks away. So the sport of the moment is the definition derby.

KIOSKmarketplace editor John Harrell

As it turns out, the cubicle with the best dictionary belongs to PIZZAmarketplace editor, Steve Coomes. The Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language is as grand and absurdly lofty as its title. It is green, thick, hardbound, and heavy. Drop it from a tall building, watch it plummet to the sidewalk, then wait for the police to pick you up on felony assault charges.

It has more than 2,200 pages and tens of thousands of definitions. That is a good thing, because the rainy day topic at KIOSKmarketplace is defining the kiosk industry.

Growing up in public

mature, adj.: 6. (of an industry, technology, market, etc.) no longer developing or expanding; having little or no potential for further growth or expansion; exhausted or saturated.

During the recent KioskCom trade show in Orlando, Fla., I made a real effort to listen to people discussing the industry in general. It was important to me from an educational standpoint, having just entered the industry last September, but also from an attitude standpoint.

Industries that succeed have a certain level of cockiness, of swagger. Walking through a trade show in a robust, dynamic industry is like walking through the winning team's locker room after a championship game; the intensity and testosterone are palpable.

This was not the impression that came out of KioskCom, but that does not mean the industry should bury its head in the sand. The central issues affecting the kiosk industry appear to be similar to those facing many other industries: how to deal with a weakened economy, what affect will recent world events have on deployments and plans, etc.

But the one issue that really caught my attention was a question so nebulous that the sheer inscrutability of the issue means 50 people might have 50 opinions:

At what stage of maturity has the kiosk industry reached?

Taken from a pure numbers standpoint, the growth of the industry has lagged behind what was expected a year ago. Most people in the industry agree with the notion though they may not accept what it means for kiosks. There are fewer kiosks out there than the industry expected. Does that mean the industry is staggering? Or is it overcoming the ragged economy and establishing itself? Or is the answer somewhere in between?

As a moderate Democrat, I find myself irresistibly drawn to the maybe/maybe-not answer that it is somewhere in between.

Take your vitamins

growth, n.: 1. the act or process, or a manner of growing; development; gradual increase.

Measuring the growth of an industry is not just about numbers, which is what draws me to the middle ground. Intangibles are as significant a part of any industry's development as the raw data that defines it. Growth and contraction are, on the surface, contradictory terms, but an industry often has to get leaner to move forward.

That was something that came out of KioskCom. The numbers compared to last year's show were down across the board. There were fewer exhibitors, not as many attendees, and a quieter buzz in the exhibit hall. But several themes emerged from the exhibit hall to challenge the notion that less is bad.

For one thing, the people that were there were serious. They were not wandering aimlessly around, grabbing a brochure here, staring intently yet indifferently at a peripheral there; they meant business. Several enclosure manufacturers mentioned the quality of the leads they were drawing as opposed to last year. And several attendees at the show mentioned how serious their companies were becoming about kiosks. After some false starts, they realize kiosks are not really a do-it-yourself project.

In the case of the kiosk industry, contraction has taken place in many ways. But one of the most significant is the number and variety of deployments that are being promoted as the next killer app.

One application that had the industry aflutter just a year ago was public-access Internet kiosks in shopping malls. One could envision the money rolling in from advertisers eager to promote their products at banks of Internet kiosks. It did not work: The economy sagged, advertising dried up, the kiosks went dark.

Other applications have survived, however, and they were the ones people were talking about at KioskCom. Digital photography kiosks are a killer app, no argument. So are airport check-in kiosks. Over in Europe, job placement assistance kiosks are making the leap from potential to killer app.

In order to grow, sometimes a market has to shrink, which is what the kiosk industry did during the second half of 2001. The trick is turning the car around and heading in the right direction now that the road has gotten smoother. By all indications, the industry is doing that.

and then ...

future, n.: 1. time that is to be or come hereafter.

The future is what every industry faces. Some industries face questions over their viability. Some have to decide what to do now that maturity has been achieved.

For the kiosk industry, the continuing quest is one of definition. Where exactly is the kiosk industry in terms of maturity? What needs to happen for the kiosk industry to continue maturing? Will the industry keep up with other technologies or will it lag behind? What is the next killer application?

There is still a whole lot of 2002 left for the industry to sort through all these questions. And the fun part is that with the economy righting itself and deployers getting more serious about the industry, this same column in March, 2003, could take on a rosier tone.

With that said, it is time to get this dictionary back to Steve Coomes. It is, after all, a dangerous weapon, physically and mentally.