Internet based pay phones

As I traveled home from a ski trip to Whistler BC Canada the other day, I took note of the self service technology used in the airports. Airports are the largest consumer of kiosks, digital signage and vending that I've come across. Some more than others, obviously. I noticed in the Cincinnati airport, the same kiosks and digital signage exists that I've discussed previously, and they are still not 100% functional. But they've taken the time to add another item (before fixing the previous) and that is an Internet enabled payphone.



It was a nice hardware form factor, and the interface was okay, but really the design of it was from 10 years ago. The unit is produced by a company called Super Pay Phone. As I walked up to it, I noticed it had a Windows message onscreen (a big no no). It had evidently recently applied an automatic Windows update and was waiting on if the PC wanted a reboot. I touched the "reboot" button and the unit shut down and went through it's start up process. There are many reasons why this is bad including allowing hackers to see your OS (to know how to penetrate it), and during the start up they system gives all kinds of other pertinent information to the hacker, including the option to get into the BIOS (should be password protected with a unique password). This unit is obviously not completely PCI compliant. All of this could be fixed simply by changing the auto windows update method to only update late at night (3am) and automatically reboot. Or, not apply updates at all, and allow a network administrator to apply updates.



Years ago we priced similar units for Cincinnati Bell who was thinking of replacing all of their traditional payphones with Internet enabled devices. At the time, they just couldn't justify replacing a $300-$600 dollar device with a $3500 device (times thousands). Now, you can hardly find any payphones on the street, and only occasionally inside. But the smaller start ups such as Smart Pay Phones may take away the Bell presence in this marketplace, and quickly. It will be interesting to see the rate of adoption of these smart devices that provide greater service than a traditional pay phone. A small company trying to grow a market and network can pay for the devices with advertising and keeping costs low (compared to Bell's often expensive overhead) with leasing of hardware, and internet access.

I think the hardware is pretty nice, but a few tweaks to interface and security would make this much better. I'd love to know what kind of usage it gets, I doubt it is much. Those few travelers who don't have a cell phone or those who are interested in the "gadget" aspect of the phone will enjoy it, but I frankly would not be likely to use it. What about you? Would you use a device such as this when travelling? How about around your home town? Leave a comment below.

Cell phones for boarding passes

This NPR story is very interesting and talks about the use of a cell phone as a boarding pass. Essentially a message is sent to your phone with a 2 dimensional bar code that is your boarding pass information, and the ticket agent scans the screen just like they would a paper boarding pass you may have printed out at home. 2D bar codes are great because they can hold a lot of information within the "pattern" that traditional 1D bar codes cannot. You've seen 1D bar codes on most every product since 1986. You may not recognize the 2D bar code yet, unless you've been to a trade show where all of your contact information is stored in a bar code on your badge for exhibitors to scan, or you may have seen them on a UPS shipping label.

The use of a cell phone as a self service device to allow you to identify yourself has big potential in the future. Imagine a kiosk or interactive digital sign being able to scan and recognize you by a bar code you were sent via email. Or it may be able to recognize you via bluetooth or similar technology. Imagine a kiosk that allows you to sign up for a program or service, receive a code via email or sms within moments, and be able to interact with the kiosk, or be able to purchase your product without cash or credit cards. There are a lot of potential uses for this technology going forwards, it is just waiting for companies willing to adopt it in an engaging way that provides real value to the consumer.

I recently became aware of a "pay by phone" service called MocaPay. MocaPay allows you to sign up for an account online (or at a kiosk?? Anyone??) and add cash to your account from your credit or debit card. You can then go to any merchant who accepts MocaPay and purchase with your phone. It works like this: You SMS MocaPay your PIN number, and it returns the message with a response including a code number that is good for 15 minutes. You give the code to the merchant and walk away with your product. Your account is debited once you have used the code. The service doesn't cost you anything to use, the costs are to the merchant at a rate similar to a credit card transaction. Could this be the new Visa? The convergence of so many technologies into one device now also converge your wallet into your phone along with a PDA, Camera, etc.. I've been trying this service out at my local coffee shop every morning, which is named.... get this... Moca. Total coincidence!

This young company is primarily targeting the younger early adopters who already embrace cell phones and SMS messaging. They are growing in the USA in cities with large college campuses where this target market is ripe. They get the merchants and universities to sign up to allow this audience to purchase with their phone.

All great stuff, great ideas... now we need customers and deployers to figure out when it's appropriate to integrate these tools for their projects. Could this be you? I know I'm thinking about it when consulting for clients!