Lucidiom, Mitsubishi Offer Kiosk Solutions
By Greg Scoblete -- TWICE, 3/26/2007
LAS VEGAS — Choice was the watchword for two kiosk manufacturers at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show, here, March 8-11. Lucidiom and Mitsubishi both unveiled scaleable systems designed to support anything from a tentative step into retail printing to a full-blown commitment.
Lucidiom introduced the new Lucidiom EQ system, which joins the company's APM and Luci kiosks. The system combines two APM kiosks with several new software and hardware tools for creating photo novelty items. These include the firm's Photo Finale Web and desktop software, new Lab 50 production software, printers, the DVD Cinema multimedia slideshow creation tool, Luci creative templates and a Photo Folio bundle that includes a laser printer and a book binder from Unibind.
The system can work with a variety of photo printers and can be scaled up according to retailer volume.
The solution allows retailers to distribute desktop software, which consumers can then use to upload photos from home back to the store. The system also supports Web ordering through a custom-branded site. The EQ system supports traditional prints, scrapbook pages, photo book creation and can burn slideshows to DVDs.
All the orders, from online, a desktop or in-store are sent to the Lab 50 server, which routes the order accordingly to printers.
Lucidiom EQ includes two APM 2700 kiosks with new APM 5.0 software, which includes a new shopping cart feature for combining orders. It also includes two PCs and the company's APM ProfitWatcher Web-based kiosk monitor, which provides retailers with information as to order activity.
The company will support the new EQ with a trade-in program that will allow retailers to trade in current APM kiosks or a competitor's model for a discount on the EQ.
Lucidiom also updated its APM kiosk with the new 2700. The unit sports a 17-inch touch screen, an Intel Core Duo processor and 2GB of RAM. It supports the DVD Cinema application alongside a host of photo novelty items and supports an optional credit card/magnetic stripe reader.
Mitsubishi Digital Electronics announced its Flexible Photo Lab kiosk which uses the existing DPS Click 5000 as a print server accessible by up to 10 DPS Kiosk 7000 terminals and serving up to five of the CP-9550DW-U or CP-3020DAU dye sublimation printers. The system can be configured according to retailer preference and supports up to six print sizes, the popular flash memory formats, USB drives, CDs and Bluetooth.
Payment can be made using cash-register-generated passwords, operator cards or pre-pay cards available in the store. The kiosk supports multiple photo decorations, image editing, photo ID and passport capability.
