Continental divides

There's nothing like a good old- fashioned rivalry to keep things interesting. And throughout world history, no ongoing feud has entertained the cognoscenti more than the I'm-better-than-you-are taunts flying over the Atlantic. Cowboy hats or berets. The Chevy Corvette or the Porsche 911. Madonna or Kylie Minogue.

No wonder, then, that even folks in the self-service industry cast suspicious glances across the pond. Where will smart carts take hold first? Who's leading the way with self-checkout? Is there a winner in the race to automate the most bank branches?

Until 2001 or 2002, Europe had substantially more kiosks deployed than North America, according to at least one report. But that number has slowly shift ed, and estimates now are that by the end of 2005, there will be 259,000 kiosks deployed in the United States and 220,000 deployed in Europe.

The U.S. appears merely to squeak by, at least until one factors in that the population of Europe is about 64 percent greater, which means, roughly speaking, that while 1,100 people have to share a single kiosk in the U.S., 2,077 are in line for one in Europe.

Trading places

Notwithstanding the numbers, is there a leader when it comes to the types of self- service technology or applications being deployed?

Francie Mendelsohn, president of Rockville, Md.-based Summit Research Associates Inc., which conducted the study on kiosk deployment around the world, said a decade ago Europe offered much more advanced self- service technology.

"No question, 10 years ago Europe was way ahead of the United States," she said. "But I don't think that is true any longer."

"Some of the things that are being reported as the ‘second coming' in the United States have been going on forever in Europe," Mendelsohn said. "Parking kiosks where you don't have individual meters on the street and kiosks where you pay for parking inside a building or airport before you even go out to your car, that's been common in Europe for 10 years or more."

In recent years, however, Mendelsohn said she has seen more advances coming from North America.

"The photo kiosk, for example, has been something that has really taken off here and it is still in its infancy," she said. "There are going to be a lot more of those kiosks installed because there is a huge customer demand for them."

Andrew Osborne, global marketing manager for retail in the Berkshire, England, office of MEI, disagreed that one continent has ever had a noticeable advantage over the other.

"I would say that different aspects of self- service have taken off differently in the United States and Europe," he said. "But I think the uptake has been similar.

"I really think it varies by segment. There is a much more mature mass transit system in Europe so it stands to reason that self-service in that area would be more advanced there. But the U.S. has been much more aggressive with airline kiosks and self-checkout," he said.

"Both are pushing innovation in different segments at different rates, but ultimately I think things will level off."

Although Joachim Pinhammer, marketing director at Paderborn, Germany- based Wincor Nixdorf, said he sees little difference in the level of self-service technology between the two continents, he theorizes that economic conditions may have played a role in the early popularity of some European applications.

"Maybe the reason that there is a little bit higher acceptance of the technology in Europe is the much higher personnel costs," he said. "I think it is a little easier to find service personnel in the United States. In Europe it is always difficult to find people willing to work for lower wages."

Pinhammer said that would explain why Europeans were quicker to adopt earlier forms of self-service kiosks but are less likely to take the lead with informational kiosks that have less personnel cost savings associated with them.

"That is a pretty good theory," Mendelsohn said. "Europeans may have been a little more willing to give this ‘crazy new technology' a chance earlier."

Mendelsohn said the sudden surge of activity in North America may be a factor of the typical attitude Americans take towards any technological advancement that they find worthwhile.

"The U.S. isn't first in everything. Just take a look at the cell phone," Mendelsohn said. "There are lots of instances of things where we came late to the party. But once we show an interest in something, look out. We really take it by storm."

Doug Peter, president of Toronto, Ontario, soft ware developer St. Clair Interactive Communications, said he would tend to agree with Mendelsohn's observation that there has been a shift in innovation from Europe to North America in recent years. "I believe that Europe did have a substantial lead in transactional kiosks in the early 1990s," Peter wrote in an e-mail. "Ticketing and some government services were advanced beyond North America in terms of self-service. Even the ATMs were more advanced and took advantage of higher levels of media integration and interactivity."

Recently, though, higher levels of investment and innovation have led to a surge in technology originating in North America, Peter said. He said he thinks that change has been "driven by the economic imperative of lower cost" and better customer service.

But Osborne said he has observed the exact opposite phenomenon.

"Europe is now just starting to wake up to the kiosk and self-service market," he wrote in an e-mail. "This is due to the fact that self-checkout is now only just beginning to take off in Europe … whilst it is already fairly well-established in the States. For kiosks, the trend is the same. Many applications cut their teeth in (the) United States first, then made the hop across the water to Europe."

Can't keep a good application down

"Self-checkout was introduced first in Europe but really took off in the U.S."

With observers clearly divided on whether one continent has an advantage over the other, Webster said "broad brush" thinking about advancements over an entire continent may not be the best approach for the industry.

Pointing to the rapid advancement of technology and the fact that eventually any successful self-service application will spread to all corners of the world, Webster recommends that industry leaders focus on the specific needs of individual nations.

"We are very focused on applications that solve specific problems," he said. "We go into countries and partner with the leading service providers in that country and we find out what we need to do.

"Our thesis for self-service is to think globally and act locally." Ultimately, there are some common values that all successful projects share.

"Behind all self-service is a common set of drivers," Webster said. "From a consumer perspective, it is all about choice and speed of service, and that is the same all over the world."

This story originally appeared in the Kiosk magazine Sept./Oct. 2005 issue.Click herefor a free subscription.