Jeremiah Owyang

Apple’s Handheld Register
I was so pleased to go to the Apple store to buy my Dad’s bday gift without using any paper or going to a counter. When I told them the product I wanted, one of the Apple workers came over with a handheld digital ‘register’. He scanned the product, ran my credit card, asked me for my email and sent me a receipt to my yahoo address. (I confirmed it came from my mobile phone). He handed the product and I exited the store. No lines at the counter, no shopping carts, just fast, efficient and paperless. (and still with Human interaction) Whoa, cool.

Automatic Waitress and Cashier
On a similar note, when we went to Tokyo, you ordered food at a ‘vending’ machine, you plunk in some coins, punch the picture you want (above) and quantity and a receipt plops out. You sit down at the counter, hand the receipt to the polite cooks who serve you. This saves time as the employees don’t have to deal with money, you don’t need a waitress, management doesn’t have to worry about employee shrink (theft), and there’s no on-hand cast for robbers to steal. Oh, and you still get that friendly human experience from the chefs.

And no, I’m not telling what I got my Dad, as he sometimes reads my blog to see what trouble I’ve gotten myself into.