This morning's news caught me off-guard. The New York Times had an article, announcing how some upscale restaurants have ditched the traditional leather-bound paper-based wine list in favour of Apple's iPad (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/dining/15ipad.html). Patrons can check the restaurant's current inventory of selections, sort by all kinds of criteria (type of wine, region, grapes, price, match with food, and wine critic reviews) before making their choices.
Why would a restaurant - upscale or not -- spend US$400 per iPad, let alone the time to develop (presumably) real-time wine inventory applications? Just to be trendy? Well per the 'Times' article, the owners noticed that each patron's spending seems to have increased by some 11% -- many trying wines that they had never tried before. How long will that take to offset the development and equipment costs?
Putting my managerial accountant's training aside for a moment, I believe strongly that this iPad example is the start of a new trend in customer fulfillment. For those of you who have attended my Technology Trends seminars over the years, you'll remember that I mentioned several examples of how wireless order-taking could be of benefit to retail and service establishments. For example, the tour bus full of hungry passengers arrives at the local fast-food restaurant. What if restaurant staff board the bus and start processing orders with wireless handheld devices. I'll submit that by the time the order takers are even half-way through the coach, runners will be arriving with fresh hot food for the passengers in the front. Far more efficient that lines of people crowding the inside order counter.
Why hasn't this happened yet? Well, an obvious answer: handheld devices were too small, screens weren't very big, keyboard buttons were really tiny -- heck, let's just admit that all the subtle order-taking nuances ("would you like extra pickles on your burger?") just would be a nightmare if you were trying to take orders with a cell-phone-sized device.
But an iPad (or similar sized tablet) is another matter entirely. Screens are big enough for easy touch virtual buttons, pictures and helpful hints could guide the order-taker or the actual customer in placing their order. All the gadget would need is a credit card swipe/PIN reader and a receipt printer and all would be perfect!
Apple's iPad isn't really designed for add-on tools such as these. But there's several touch tablets coming down the pipeline from other manufacturers (most notably running Google's Android operating system) that could easily be customized for portable POS handling.
Will customers expect convenience tools such as computerized wine lists and portable order taking -- with either the restaurant's equipment or the consumer's own gadgets? I think yes, it will enhance many consumer experiences. How quickly will we see the roll-out of this technology?
I give it a year.
