“While the benefits for Apple and consumers are clear, the iPad Mini is a trickier proposition for marketers looking to use the device to enhance digital connections with their customers,” Andrew Solmssen writes for ClickZ.
“The iPad Mini isn’t a completely new category in the way the original iPad was, but it will be a new sub-category (though the small tablet trail was blazed by Kindle and Android, it’s not legit until Apple enters the race), and any time there is a new market, there is opportunity,” Solmssen writes. “The big change, of course, is the size. Much more portable than its bigger sibling iPad, the Mini’s smaller size allows us to introduce digital experiences to a variety of situations where they haven’t been seen before.”
Solmssen writes, “For businesses, the Mini allows a point-of-sale to be put anywhere. Think of airlines being able to send reps into long lines of customers to start the check-in process or Starbucks employees taking orders on the move. Imagine a waiter taking an order on a Mini and having it go straight to the kitchen. It can then be dropped in an apron without a second thought. For inventory-taking and factory workers, it’s an easy one-handed device that allows for more multi-tasking while using it… Perhaps the biggest advantage for marketers is that the Mini is also going to allow consumers to bring tablets with them in situations where today they do not. We’ll be much more likely to slip the Mini into a bag, so there is a greater chance it will be on hand.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “GetMeOnTop” for the heads up.]
@MDN: For inventory-taking and factory workers, it’s an easy one-handed device…
I recall in the late 90s how the Newton was a big deal in my large Silicon Valley outfit in the shipping department as well is in the stockroom.
Point of sale systems never landed on Macs. I still search the Internet for a well developed, affordable and supported stand alone POS for Mac and comes up none. POS for iPad is other history and is not a promise as the article pretends. There’s a lot of POS in the apps store right now. Mini or original, I don’t see the difference for this particular task.
Then what POS system does Apple use in their retail stores?
As far as I know, Apple retail stores used some Windows based POS. Then, the iPod Touch arrived and, a few years ago, Apple developed its own POS iOS based. It was really embarrassing for we all Apple fans trying to mock up Windows sufferers while Apple, Inc. was using the very same Windows in its retails stores. Someone here must know more about it.
I wrote one once, for my own business. It was specific to my needs, but I got so many requests that I had plans to make it suitable for more general use. Then the economy went south and the business went with it 🙁
“the Mini allows a point-of-sale to be put anywhere”
Anyone heard of In-n-Out burger joint? These mobile POS systems are not new. As a matter of fact, Apple Stores have had them for years using an iPod touch.
“airlines… send reps into long lines … to start the check-in process” (???) and use the mini to weight the luggage? I dont think so.
Ho hum article.
There are plenty of mobile POS systems in the market now. Most of the restaurants we frequent have a POS system that takes the order, creates a paper bill, does the charge card etc. Not as fertile a market as one might assume.
I don’t really think of the mini as that big of a boon to POS applications. It will fill a specific niche, just as the iPad has. For a lot of POS functionality, the iPhone is of adequate size.
So this will be an addition to POS, but not a game changer.
The mini will make a big difference in POS.
It doesn’t matter that other POS systems exist.
For all those companies that could use but don’t have POS is one market. Other companies that don’t require proprietary hardware
Will also be a market.
The relatively low entry price and the huge number of developers who could be attractedto this market give the mini great advantages
.But it will be used for way more that POS!
I want my Newton!
Have you seem POS-IM or Lightspeed? They are great POS systems.