The Tablet is a Bitter Pill to Swallow

Druckversion

In recent times there has been a lot of interest in iPad kiosks. On the surface the appeal is understandable. The iPad has emerged as a highly desirable and influential product, and when a retailer or service provider is aiming to attract customers to a kiosk, the iPad seems like the obvious device.
 
Despite this, there are a few disadvantages to using iPad kiosks. The iPad was designed as a consumer product for home use. As well designed as they are, they can never match the durability of a purpose built kiosk with resistive vandal-proof screens. Purpose built kiosks are designed to minimise maintenance and downtime. There is little point in attracting users to a kiosk that then suffers reliability issues.
 
Furthermore, iPads are significantly smaller than the touch screens that are typically found in kiosks, and are designed to be handheld, around 30 to 45cm from the user’s eyes. Kiosks are generally used at almost twice that distance, meaning that the interface and navigation needs to be much clearer. One of our customers recently trialled an iPad kiosk alongside one of our units and found that end users reported much greater satisfaction and usability with purpose built kiosks.
 
Ultimately, I can’t help feeling that mounting an iPad in a kiosk only reduces its appeal and value. The iPad’s greatest strength is its portability, but when it’s encased in a kiosk housing, it becomes just another screen.