01-08-2014, 12:37 AM
Kerim, I wondered about that also. How about some incremental improvements such as:
* Monitor stock and replenish when needed. Instead of a truck going around on a route, you could send a high schooler in a Yugo to fill up one machine. Could save on fuel, wear & tear of the big truck and be more timely.
* Track product freshness. Heat, freezing & humidity can have a deleterious effect on product quality.
* Accept payments using cell phone for those that don't carry cash.
* Debit/credit card transactions. You can do that now but all the implementations I've seen are phone line which means you're tied in with the telco. How many landlines have been eliminated already?
* Remote repairs or timely problem reporting.
* Put machines in more places. A little patch antenna could pick up WiFi signals at a much greater distance.
* Could tie in fountain machines with a restaurant/retailers system to warn of low syrup, problems, etc. or even monitor for billing purposes. Save a restaurant some pennies and you're locked in even further. Might even entice some to switch from Pepsi products (oh crap!).
* More granular sales data in real-time for their already impressive data gathering capability.
Using their own MAC addresses can help with security and authentication also. Can't for the life of me figure why they want their own MACs unless it's some kind of security feature.
They could even put Coke machines on the popular ascent routes up Mt. Everest and still track them as needed. (OK, that one was a joke.)
Or they could have something even more fantastical that no one has thought of before.
* Monitor stock and replenish when needed. Instead of a truck going around on a route, you could send a high schooler in a Yugo to fill up one machine. Could save on fuel, wear & tear of the big truck and be more timely.
* Track product freshness. Heat, freezing & humidity can have a deleterious effect on product quality.
* Accept payments using cell phone for those that don't carry cash.
* Debit/credit card transactions. You can do that now but all the implementations I've seen are phone line which means you're tied in with the telco. How many landlines have been eliminated already?
* Remote repairs or timely problem reporting.
* Put machines in more places. A little patch antenna could pick up WiFi signals at a much greater distance.
* Could tie in fountain machines with a restaurant/retailers system to warn of low syrup, problems, etc. or even monitor for billing purposes. Save a restaurant some pennies and you're locked in even further. Might even entice some to switch from Pepsi products (oh crap!).
* More granular sales data in real-time for their already impressive data gathering capability.
Using their own MAC addresses can help with security and authentication also. Can't for the life of me figure why they want their own MACs unless it's some kind of security feature.
They could even put Coke machines on the popular ascent routes up Mt. Everest and still track them as needed. (OK, that one was a joke.)
Or they could have something even more fantastical that no one has thought of before.
=====
“While the dividend itself is merely a rearrangement of equity, over time it's more like owning an apple tree. The tree grows the apples back again and again and again, and the theoretical value of the tree doesn't change just because of when the apples are about to fall.” - earthtodan
“While the dividend itself is merely a rearrangement of equity, over time it's more like owning an apple tree. The tree grows the apples back again and again and again, and the theoretical value of the tree doesn't change just because of when the apples are about to fall.” - earthtodan