Kiosk Industry Sector Report, Web Payphones
Copyright © 2001 Summit Research Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.(1)
7728 Warler Lane Rockville, Maryland 20855-1034
www.summit-res.comNetyou
[Evaluation of model 200, June 12, 2001]Netyou Corporation has deployed more than 400 Web Payphones throughout the Eastern US, with the major concentration in their home base of Orlando, Florida. The units have been tested on numerous occasions both in the Washington, DC area as well as in Orlando, Florida. The company has many units at the huge Orange County Convention Center as well as many hotels and restaurants in the area. The kiosks offer an extensive selection of Websites—many of them aimed at tourists visiting the Orlando area—as well as e-mail surfing, shopping and digital photographs. They are the only units Summit has tested that make a concerted effort to accommodate foreign travelers. The easy-to-select sites include currency, clothes and shoe size, as well as measurement converters.
In many instances, the company sells the units to a customer who then collects all the revenue. In other instances, the company engages in a revenue-sharing arrangement with owners; company officials declined to provide the revenue sharing percentages between Netyou and those location owners.
Appearance
The tall, standalone unit is black powder-coated metal, with the word “Internet” painted sideways on the sides in an extremely large white font. This is quite effective as it indicates what the unit is from quite a distance away. Many units leave it up to the consumer to “guess” what they do and often are unused as a result. This is not the case here—it is clear what can be accomplished at the device. The company will custom-produce the unit in other colors and finishes when required. The attract loop runs a series of ads as well as the cost to use the device.
The enclosure has a metal plate inside the unit located a few inches from the ground, ostensibly to be used as a footrest. While at first this may seem to be an odd or funny accessory, it helps make the user more comfortable. The 15-inch monitor displayed text and graphics quite well and without any fuzziness. Above the monitor are, from left to right, a new generation MEI currency reader that will accept currency no matter which direction it is inserted, a floppy disk reader and a credit card reader. A videocamera is located above these three peripherals. Speakers are located on either side of the videocamera. To the left of the monitor is a telephone handset.
Below the monitor is a flat area housing the keyboard and Cirque GlidePoint™ pointing device. While the keyboard is mounted relatively flat—rather than mounted at a slight angle often found on public access units—there is plenty of space in front of the keyboard where the user can rest his hands. The company continues to use inexpensive, traditional PC keyboards rather than kiosk-specific (and much more costly) keyboards. They report that their customers do not see the need for the more expensive units. There is no question that the tactile feedback of the keyboard is excellent. While the keyboard had no protection against liquids, Netyou officials report almost no problems with spillage. Somewhat ironic is the fact that the company defends its use of the trackpad pointing device instead of a trackball because of its waterproof aspects. The GlidePoint has been located below the space bar but is being moved to the right of the keyboard— and out of the way—in all new units. They found that users were resting their hands on the device and causing the cursor to move at will.
Many early units featured laser printers. These were often the cause of maintenance headaches as location owners were often not diligent in replenishing the paper supply. The company is looking into using thermal printers in the future and increasingly is deploying units without any printers.
The one glaring area of concern regards the floppy disk drive. It is not necessary and can subject the kiosk system to malicious spreading of viruses. While the company is quick to point out that this has not occurred, it is a time-bomb waiting to go off. Most people are not even using floppy disks any more. It is simply one more slot where people can insert things. This peripheral should therefore be removed in future versions.
The newer [model 200] units feature a clever seat that pulls out from the base unit and is easily pushed back when the session is complete. The company is to be commended for recognizing that if a customer is comfortable, he will stay online longer and will therefore produce more revenue for the owners. Netyou has also designed very attractive wall-mounted units that fit a traditional payphone’s backplate, making it an easy replacement for a payphone. They have also introduced a countertop model. These new units feature a proximity sensor that will run a series of ads and the Welcome Screen when it detects the presence of a potential user.
Pricing
The price—$1.00 for four minutes when using cash or a minimum of $3.00 for credit card operations—is listed across the top of the screen. This is commendable, as people always want to know what a session will cost them. Some locations, such as at Orlando’s Convention Center, charge $1.00 for three minutes of access. The kiosks indicate how much time is remaining. Whether a customer uses cash or credit card, the unit counts down. In the case of credit cards, the system pre-authorizes the purchase of $25.00 worth of time but only will charge the actual amount consumed. This payment method is very similar to that used at gasoline pumps. Netyou officials report that 80 percent of their customers pay for access with cash.
One problem is that there is no warning that time is about to run out; only when the time has expired will a message appear asking the user if he wishes to continue. The session is saved until the customer indicates his preference. The user is given 90 seconds in which to insert more cash. Unfortunately the customer has no way of knowing that he has extra time in which to insert more money, or that his session has not been terminated and can quickly be continued. These are minor programming issues that should be corrected.
The company has installed 50 units [of model 210] for Bell Canada, replacing the now-discontinued Nortel NetVenue units. Not only does the coin acceptor handle all Canadian coins, up to and including the one and two dollar coins (the loonie and the toonie), but the same device can handle all US coins, including the new One Dollar coin. The units can also accept promotional and prepaid cards.
Applications
Although the customer can always type in the URL of a favorite site, these Web Payphones have grouped together many of the most popular sites to make selection fast and easy. The many options available on the kiosk are listed left-to-right near the top of the screen, each one as a tab in a file folder setting with the following extensive sub-categories:
•E-mail – Send, Receive, Attach Photo and Save to Floppy
•Msg Ctr – Greeting Cards, Chat, Pagers
•Search – Do your own search or use one of 21 leading search engines •Useful – Maps, Dictionaries, Measurement Converters, Exchange rates
•News – Sports, Weather – World and Local
•Shopping – Links to Apparel, Books & Magazines, Computers, Electronics, Grocery, Gifts & Flowers, Home & Garden, Office Supplies
•Mix – Horoscopes, News from Other Countries, Links to Art & Culture, Computers & Internet, Science & curiosities, Entertainment & Shows, Health, Kids, Music, Sports, For Women •Local – Local (in this case, Orlando) information – Weather, Attractions, Maps, Transportation, Shopping
•Finance – Stock Quotes, Internet Banking, Mortgage Information and Refinance
•Travel – Airline, Hotels, Cruises, Trains, Specials, Cars, Europe, Guides, Magazines, Weather, Maps, Events Calendar, Currency Converters (OANDA and Yahoo)
•Welcome – Quick links to popular sites – AOL, Yahoo, Compuserve, Earthlink, Lycos, MSN, Netscape, 100 Top Sites
Operation
Customers are requested to choose the language of choice – English, Spanish or Portuguese. They are then instructed to insert cash or quickly push-and-pull their credit card in and out of the card reader. We paid with both cash, and at a later session, with a Visa card. Both payment methods worked without problems. A disclaimer appears on the screen when a credit card is used. It indicates that payment will be charged against the card. There are several paragraphs of text and the developers wisely put the large Accept and Cancel buttons near the top of the screen, above the disclaimer. They were required by the state of Florida to post the disclaimer but realized that almost no one will take the time to read it, so they made it easy to continue.
The welcome screen appeared along with a well-designed (not invisible, not too big, and yet not hidden either) “time-remaining indicator” near the top of the screen. The many choices were highlighted across the top; each choice appearing as a separate tab. The color scheme and graphics were well done. When a tab is selected, it changes color and remains that color so the user can quickly see what application set has been chosen.
The option to send a photograph as an e-mail attachment worked very well. Unlike many systems where a large JPEG gets sent as an attachment, taking a great deal of download time and annoying the recipient, this system is fast and easy. While the picture quality is not outstanding, it is a nice way to say hello to friends and family especially while traveling. The picture is stored on a Website. Recipients are told to click on the site and download the attachment. The file size is a mere 10KB and the download time takes a few seconds. It is a pleasing and easy-to-use feature.
Connection speed seemed more than adequate; company officials report that they have found the most success with Road Runner, running at 248Kbps. Their experiences with DSL have been less than satisfactory from an operational as well as a support perspective.
The icons are clever and intuitive. Navigation is consistent with the buttons located across the top of the screen. No touchscreen is used; only the TrackPad. Visual feedback is supplied when a button or tab is selected.
The units are impressive. They offer a wide range of Websites, are comfortable to use, especially when the units features the retractable seat. Usage has been very impressive, depending upon location. Orlando placements show high usage and revenue during the summer months, topping $1,900 per month per kiosk from time usage only.
With a well-trained staff of technicians to provide onsite and remote maintenance, this is one company that is enjoying ever-increasing success. They also are in the enviable position of replacing competitors whose products did not live up to expectations. They have had virtually no instances where they themselves were unseated. While the units are not perfect, they provide value for the money and are enjoyable to use.
(1) Excerpt of pages 43-46 reprinted with permission of Summit Research Associates, Inc.
| TOP |