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The soul of an iPod vending machine
Those ZoomSystems iPod vending machines that we once gently mocked are both more successful and more ubiquitous than we thought they'd be. Still, it seems they aren't flawless. Reader & iPod shopper Kristopher decided to give one of the machines at his local mall a try; unfortunately, as soon as he started using the touchscreen, a familiar error screen appeared, and then... well, you can see what's underneath the pretty surface. Sure, lots of retail kiosk applications use XP, but c'mon -- for an iPod sales system, shouldn't Mac OS X be the first choice? [That's a joke, in case our visitors from Digg are confused. While there are plenty of Point Of Sale systems for the Mac, I don't actually know of one that's intended for vending-machine deployment, and even a Mac Mini is a bit high-end for the build cost of vending machines. That aside, it's probably not the best call to go with XP for a vend setup either...]
iPod vending machine seems out of place at the supermarket
While we're on the subject of supermarkets and vending machines, I spotted one of the Zoom Shop vending machines that dispenses iPods at the entrance to the Safeway market in my hometown the other day. These vending machines have been around for quite a while in airports, where they arguably make some sense. But I couldn't help but think that an iPod vending machine seemed out of place next to the soft drink machines at the supermarket. Unlike the other vending machines you pass as you wheel your cart out of the supermarket, the iPod machine doesn't offer much in the way of impulse purchases. OK, I can maybe see picking up an extra pair of earphones on a whim, but a $199 iPod nano doesn't strike me as something I might buy as an afterthought to throw in my shopping cart next to the lettuce and green beans. Not to mention that the iPods didn't look half as appealing lined up in their vending machine slots as they do in the sleek interior of an Apple Store.
