News

Pharmacies in New Zealand get digital photo kiosks

January 11, 2004

AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- Film processing firm Viko New Zealand is beta testing a digital photo service with three pharmacies. The service involves a kiosk that copies digital camera pictures to a CD, which is then sent to Viko for printing.

According to an article in The Dominion Post, the three pharmacies in the pilot are Unichem Wilkinsons in Queenstown, Unichem Torbay in Auckland, and Pauls Chemist in Grey Lynn, Auckland. Viko will roll the kiosks out to 30 more stores later this month.

Viko's "V-box" kiosk for pharmacy retailers is basically a personal computer that copies the contents of a digital camera's memory card on to a CD in a couple of minutes. Photos from the CD are then printed offsite on high-speed printers and returned overnight to the pharmacies. It costs 40 cents per photo plus $10 for the CD. Viko also processes CDs prepared at home by consumers at 60 cents a print.

Meanwhile, competitor Kodak New Zealand also plans to bring in kiosks at its film processing stores. Kodak's planned kiosks will allow people to select the pictures they want from their memory cards and adjust them before printing. They would then print the photos on the spot.