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admin
Moderator
Member Since:
05 Dec 2005
Posts:9
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05 Dec 2005 9:55 PM |
2 have marked this post as Insightful
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Coin-operated? Well, credit card-operated, at least.
iPod vending machine
This snapshot, by Lynette Wayne, shows a vending machine at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport (terminal A, to be precise) that sells iPods and iPod accessories of multiple kinds. It was posted by Wayne's husband, David, in his blog here, along with the note: "I got the biggest kick out of this--it's from the "what'll they think of next" department. Wow!"
Within a week of Wayne's post, his blog had a pile of comments triggered by the machine--other people who'd seen it, who'd wondered about it, who'd even photographed it. It turns out that the web is flooded with photos of the exact same machine in the exact same Atlanta airport cul de sac. You can find them on Flickr, at boingboing.net, and in countless blogs. Just Google the phrase "iPod vending machine" and see. What's more, many of the blogs have robust comment threads in which people make jokes about how it's not a big deal when the Snickers bar you just bought stays stuck in the machine, but how would you feel about losing a $300 music player? (Someone quickly replied with an explanation of how the picking mechanism works in the machine, and why you wouldn't lose a purchase.) Someone else said, "That's a lot of quarters."
The machine is by Zoom Systems, in San Francisco. The question prompted by the photo is, Why such fascination?
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chrismeyer
Member Since:
20 Dec 2005
Posts:33
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13 Jan 2006 9:11 PM |
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Maybe the fascination is in the suggestion that, now that we're used to the shopping, selection, ordering, and paying processes occuring without human intervention, this machine is a peek at what comes next--fully automated delivery. As Master Card and others introduce their swipe-at-a-distance pay passes, the disembodyment of purchase will take another step.
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jdiener
Member Since:
01 Feb 2006
Posts:1
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01 Feb 2006 6:41 PM |
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... Although Japan has been at the forefront of vending for decades. It would be useful to look at what did and didn't work there to get a better sense for how the trend might play out globally since they've tried a lot of variations / products to sell ...
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tomportante
Member Since:
07 Feb 2006
Posts:6
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12 Feb 2006 10:33 PM |
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Granted, this is serious topic drift, but it conjures up an image of the coin-operated Horn & Hardart Automats in New York City. (last one closed, I think, in the 90s)
As a kid, I remember the paper napkins at the place - with the printed message "As New As Tomorrow"...
Now, if this little text box allows me to insert html code, there *should* be a sepia picture below. If not, check out: http://static.flickr.com/30/47349055_7df920ec66_o.jpg
<img src="http://static.flickr.com/30/47349055_7df920ec66_o.jpg">
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speck
Member Since:
16 Dec 2005
Posts:7
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13 Feb 2006 4:31 PM |
0 have marked this post as Insightful
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The Automat used to be a thing to go to see when I was a kid. Now the idea of a sandwich from a machine has lost it's, well, shelf life)).
Just saw this photo of an iPod display is 7-11 in Japan. Here's the URL.
http://www.ifoapplestore.com/photos/ipods_at_711.jpg
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gainesross
Member Since:
09 Mar 2006
Posts:2
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09 Mar 2006 9:26 AM |
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The automated vending machine makes sense to me -- brain food. lgr
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tsiesfeld
Member Since:
09 Mar 2006
Posts:1
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09 Mar 2006 5:33 PM |
0 have marked this post as Insightful
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It makes sense to me, too. Maybe it's appeal is that you can touch it the machine and see the objects "life size" and from a range of perspectives -- shopping for an iPod on line is similar to pruchase through a vending machine without anything, other than a mouse, to touch and with create difficult imagining what the physical things really looks like.
Another reaction, more to Chris's above, is that the service analog to the vending machine is the "press 1 for..." VRU. At least you can kick a vending machine in frustration.
Tony
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parkijo
Member Since:
09 Mar 2006
Posts:3
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09 Mar 2006 8:47 PM |
0 have marked this post as Insightful
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This has a lot of intriguing supply cahin implications - especially in places like airports where retail labor costs are inflated by secuirty concerns. With real time inventory (the kiosk is I believe online to the wholesaler who handles replenishment) you could handle a lot more volume with a lot fewer (vetted) people. How soon before we see the rest of convenience retail in high traffic low transaction locations go thie route?
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ebedell
Member Since:
16 Dec 2005
Posts:13
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11 Mar 2006 12:56 AM |
0 have marked this post as Insightful
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Now, if this little text box allows me to insert html code
Suggestion to the moderators: permit a limited set of html code in online discussions, so that one can provide hyperlinks to associated words, etc. You might also consider allowing inline images.
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ebedell
Member Since:
16 Dec 2005
Posts:13
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ebedell
Member Since:
16 Dec 2005
Posts:13
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11 Mar 2006 1:11 AM |
0 have marked this post as Insightful
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processes occuring without human intervention, this machine is a peek at what comes next--fully automated delivery. As Master Card and others introduce their swipe-at-a-distance pay passes, the disembodyment of purchase will take another step
As 'virtual credit cards' and 'mobile phone wallets' continue to expand beyond Europe and Asia, we may see more of this 'disembodyment of puchase' here in the States. But, there are still some questions...
Will The U.S. Embrace Cell-Phone-As-Wallet? -- http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=NTHPVXTR3MQDQQSNDBGCKH0CJUMEKJVN?articleID=180204073
Mobile phones for cash, tickets, transactions, keys... -- http://www.eurotechnology.com/walletphone/
Nokia and MasterCard test mobile phone wallet -- http://www.out-law.com/page-3557
Nokia Phones with Wallet -- http://www.nokia.ie/nokia/0,8764,29296,00.html
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One man's spam is another man's art. I saw this article about a computer artist who took unwanted spam emails and created art based ...
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