New Panel PC from IBM Released
The retail group at IBM announced their new Anyplace terminal (ie panel pc). This is their response to NCR and their new Advantage pane lpc series. Notable is the panel pc/terminal now comes in 19". Also the Intel cpu and graphics has been replaced by AMD and VIA. They say a new feature being offered is payment capabilities. Not sure what they mean there.
We were surprised by the comment by IHLgroup that stores (where presumably many POS terminals are already) suffer from hackers on the internal network and how the "new" broadband wireless will thus be more secure than the internal store network.
Overall it's another step forward for their POS/Retail group. In the conventional "kiosk" world except for using the name, they are still looking for a market so to speak we think and the SurePOS/Anyplace terminal lives on.
IBM Unveils Kiosks With Slimmer Body, Heftier Capabilities
BY BRIAN WOMACK
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 9/25/2007
IBM (IBM) is determined to get more electronic self-service kiosks into more places.
Big Blue on Tuesday is set to unveil kiosks that are slimmer, wireless and more feature-packed than earlier versions — making them better fits for grocery stores, hardware chains, airports, hotels and other locations. The announcement also includes software and services that aim to fuel its fast-growing Retail Store Solutions unit.
"We have been in this market for a while, but this is our broadest initiative" said Steve Ladwig, the group's general manager.
Analysts say IBM's move is significant for the industry, and should help spur the proliferation of kiosks.
"IBM's investment in the kiosk and advanced design technologies are really setting the tone in the marketplace to say that this technology is for real," said Rob Garf, an analyst with AMR Research.
IBM's unit sells traditional point-of-sale systems that checkers use to scan and tally up orders at grocery lines.
It also sells self-checkout systems that let shoppers scan their purchases, bag them and and buy them without help. They include touch-screens and voice prompts.
The kiosks, in contrast, are more like information centers with computers and screens that can be networked to the Internet.
They can be placed just about anywhere — from the corner music store to a four-star hotel.
rest of story
Posted by staff at September 26, 2007 08:44 AM