More on interactive taxi kiosks

KioskMarketplace is running this article about a new interactive kiosk application in taxis in Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, (and supposedly soon in Charlotte and New York City). I've written or posted about a number of articles in the past featuring all sorts of new and unique taxi kiosk or signage applications, and unfortunately most have not worked out very well from a financial standpoint.

Passengers interact with the kiosk via a touchscreen to retrieve up-to-the minute local and national news, sports, weather, local area information and more. A scrolling ticker keeps riders abreast of stock market activity.

"The kiosks are informational and entertaining," said Cory Gottlieb, chief executive officer of Interactive Taxi. "Passengers can use a Yellow Pages-like directory to search for restaurants, nightclubs, movie listings, area attractions, and city resources for free. The systems also are hooked up to the Office of Emergency Management and the Amber Alert System."

Revenue comes from the "advertorial" information supplied by vendors who wish to be listed on the kiosks. The model seems sound enough, and I have to admit that having ridden in a number of cabs staffed by non-English speakers, they certainly could prove useful for providing local information about restaurants, etc., history suggests that these devices will be met with much critical response -- good and bad. In the end, like everything else, the market will decide :)