News
October 29th, 2005, 01:38 AM
By Bradley Philbert, GN Editor-in-Chief
Friday, October 28, 2005
Anyone who lives or visits major cities in Japan has seen incredible products sold from vending machines: kerosene, dry ice, and eggs to name a some (okay, pornography, too). Consumers in the U.S. can buy disposable cameras, toys, and flowers from a vending machines in metropolitan areas. But a mobile phone retailer in the U.K. has started offering prepaid phones to be sold in vending machines.
The phones are available fully charged, with credit already applied to the phone’s virtual account. All the user must do is turn the phone on, and start talking. The phones are available for anywhere from $50 to $100 (USD), and Vodafone hopes they will be used not only in emergencies or case of a dead battery, but for foreign tourists and consumers who elect to use a cell phone anonymously.
Currently the only operating machines are found in Manchester, but maker Vodafone hopes to expand the machine’s availability to music venues, airports, shopping centers, plus train and boat terminals.
"They can be installed anywhere, as long as there is an electricity supply," a Vodafone spokesperson told the U.K.’s Telegraph. "In theory they could be half way up a mountain. These will be popular with people who need a phone in an emergency, either because they have lost their phone or it has run out of battery. They are for people who know what they want and who don't want to go through the rigmarole of talking to a sales assistant."
In other news, the Vodaphone spokesperson has been credited as the first person in 57 years to use the term “rigmarole.”
Friday, October 28, 2005
Anyone who lives or visits major cities in Japan has seen incredible products sold from vending machines: kerosene, dry ice, and eggs to name a some (okay, pornography, too). Consumers in the U.S. can buy disposable cameras, toys, and flowers from a vending machines in metropolitan areas. But a mobile phone retailer in the U.K. has started offering prepaid phones to be sold in vending machines.
The phones are available fully charged, with credit already applied to the phone’s virtual account. All the user must do is turn the phone on, and start talking. The phones are available for anywhere from $50 to $100 (USD), and Vodafone hopes they will be used not only in emergencies or case of a dead battery, but for foreign tourists and consumers who elect to use a cell phone anonymously.
Currently the only operating machines are found in Manchester, but maker Vodafone hopes to expand the machine’s availability to music venues, airports, shopping centers, plus train and boat terminals.
"They can be installed anywhere, as long as there is an electricity supply," a Vodafone spokesperson told the U.K.’s Telegraph. "In theory they could be half way up a mountain. These will be popular with people who need a phone in an emergency, either because they have lost their phone or it has run out of battery. They are for people who know what they want and who don't want to go through the rigmarole of talking to a sales assistant."
In other news, the Vodaphone spokesperson has been credited as the first person in 57 years to use the term “rigmarole.”