News

MokiTouch creates Android kiosks with remote management

June 27, 2012

The trend of transforming tablets into kiosks and digital signs seems to be hotter than ever, a fact not lost on MokiMobility, a provider of cloud-based mobile device management for single-purpose iOS and Android devices. Hoping to cash in on the trend, the company has recently launched a new tool to make it easy for retailers to remotely manage their tablet devices, said the company's CEO, Tom Karren.

"Android tablets continue to create many new use cases for innovative consumer technologies, saving costs and helping retailers, hoteliers and even doctors better engage with their customers," he said. "Creating kiosks and point-of-sale systems — and then being able to remotely manage these devices individually or as a group — will let them better retain customers, capture sales and keep track of a good portion of their business from the cloud."

Where the company says its MokiTouch is different from competitors is that it's not only a customizable browser app that helps retailers create in-store kiosks using Android tablets, it also allows them to remotely manage the app, removing default apps, pushing Wi-Fi settings and even remotely rebooting the device.

Creating customer kiosks, digital signage and point-of-sales systems has long been of interest, but traditional PCs, laptops and touch interfaces are ill-suited for these specific applications and require very costly custom development, with project costs ranging from $3,500 to $10,000 per device, Karren said. MokiTouch, Android tablets and secure enclosures are less than $1,000 per device.

Other features include:

Custom buttons: Merchants can define up to four custom buttons that appear along the bottom of the browser that point to any URL they specify.

Clear private data button: MokiTouch clears private data each time it refreshes to home, wiping out any credentials and personal information the previous user may have entered. Merchants can also turn on a button that gives users the ability to clear their data when they leave. While a button is redundant, since MokiTouch will automatically clear the data, it helps users know they are protected and gives them control over when it happens.

Faster remote management: As soon as an administrator hits save on the updated kiosk settings within the MokiManage app management console, those settings are sent directly to the device. and merchants will see the changes live within a couple of seconds. Each time the app is launched, it will continue to check-in with MokiManage to make sure it has the latest settings.

Read more about retail.