Fujitsu releases new self-ordering products

Self-service ordering is becoming an increasingly hot area in the interactive kiosk/self-service solutions marketplace these days, with major venrods like Subway and McDonald's trialing the systems to improve efficiency (though whether they'll ever get the green light for a mass deployment is still anybody's guess). From the press release:

The self-ordering systems combine newly designed Fujitsu hardware with self-service applications from software partner NextChoice Systems to offer consumers increased ordering, payment and personalization options. The units are fully upgradeable and available in several installation configurations to accommodate various restaurant, grocery and hospitality formats.

According to a January 2006 study from Venture Development Corp., "Kiosks for Self-Service and Interactive Applications: Technical and Vertical Market Analysis," North American shipments of self-service and interactive kiosk systems are expected to achieve a compound annual growth rate of nearly 20 percent from 2004 through 2007. Within the segment, self-service ordering ranked highest in the study, based on scoring criteria that included fast return on investment, high market growth rates and high consumer-adoption rates.

So Fujitsu seems to think this is a pretty significant area for growth. I'm still not totally sold on the premise of self-ordering, but then again, I don't hang out around fast food restaurants during their busy periods, so I'm not exactly one to be making qualified judgements in this case :)