From: "Curt Sampson" <cjs@cynic.net>
> And yes, apparently vending machines both here and even in the US have
> equipment to report back to their owners. Not to mention the smarts to
> raise prices in hot weather:
>
> http://www.philipkdick.com/articles/102899coke-vending.html
How about an infrared scan of the thirsty customer's face, to estimate
how dehyrdrated they are? Now that would be really sadistic price
discrimination.
For those who don't get the "philipkdick" reference: his novel "Ubiq"
starts with the feckless, penniless anti-hero arguing with his totally
coin-operated apartment, saying things to his refrigerator like "I can
pay you tomorrow." If I remember right, he doesn't even have enough
change to pay the apartment door so he can escape....
Speaking of price discrimination and mobile telephony (desperately
seeking at least grazing contact with the raison d'etre of keitai-l):
wouldn't automatic price discrimination be one use of mobile phones
in some scenario? Just as some Japanese tourist destinations
had separate menus with higher prices (at least during the bubble),
couldn't mobile providers aggregate the consumer profiles of
people wandering in a particular locale, and sell the information
to local venues for their dynamic LCD price displays? "Location-
Based Gouging," anyone?
It's a sick idea, I suppose, but no sicker than price discrimination
itself, a common practice thought to be threatened by the Web.
-michael
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Received on Tue Aug 28 12:14:39 2001