> For overheated advertising rhetoric, I liked this part
Michael,
I liked the rhetoric, too. Fairly interesting, though, since it appears
DoCoMo is aiming at having the vending machine be a small real-world portal,
accepting cash payments for i-mode services, dispensing e-tickets, AND MORE!
Where many wired web companies saw a similar role for convenience stores,
which has still been largely un-realised, it will be interesting to see if
DoCoMo and Coku can make this work. (And if it works initially, how long it
takes thieves to make it stop working, or Coke to turn their machines into
armored thingummies).
> Back here on earth: I've been given to believe that vending
> machines in Japan have had cellular links for several years
> now -- very helpful for sales tracking and inventory manage-
> ment. Not implausible. Cellular could be pretty cheap if
> you didn't have to worry about electronics miniaturization
> or lithium batteries. Anybody have info on this?
I believe that DoCoMo has had a relationship with Coke, through their
placement of PHS antennaes on Coke machines. This presumably has meant that
these machines are connected to an ISDN line, since that is what PHS cells
use. I have also been told that one of the uses DoPa (PDC-P) has been put to
is for vending machines to communicate with a control center to tell it when
drinks are needed, etc. DoCoMo markets a DoPa device with a RS-232C
interface, which it wouldn't be much of a challenge to connect to nearly any
other control device, including vending machines. I haven't seen any stories
or specific references to this sort of thing, either, but I think that
considering the overall cost of a Coke machine, which runs into the hundreds
of thousands of yen, that such functionality, even at about 20,000 yen,
which is about what I remember the DoPa device retailing for, considering
the amount of time and money it could save a company, would be well worth
it.
Cheers,
Nik Frengle
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Received on Mon Aug 27 19:10:47 2001