At the Retail Business Technology Expo in London, Panasonic are launching a new range of mobile retail applications and payment solutions.
Panasonic is launching the latest version Toughpad FZ-M1 tablet alongside a 3D Intel RealSense camera application and will demonstrate Ingenico’s iCMP, one of the smallest and lightest Chip & Pin mobile payment devices on the market, working with a range of its Toughpad tablets.
Payments
While most payment companies are running around looking for ways to pay with your mobile phone, Panasonic recognise that for the foreseeable future at least the good old plastic credit or debit card is here to stay. ApplePay hasn’t taken the market by storm and Samsung Pay has yet to launch in most of the world. The likes of PayPal and Google are trying to get in on the act as are everyone from MasterCard, Visa and Amex. With all this payments activity, the chances are high that the last time you paid in a retail store or ate out that you paid by card.
Panasonic are looking to solve today’s problems, how does a retail or restaurant speed up payments and save the trip to the checkout? That’s where a Panasonic Toughpad tablet paired with Ingenico’s iCMP comes in. It enables a waiter or shop assistant to take payment via tablet wherever the customer is. Panasonic also have a Tablet with contactless payments. They believe that the £30 limit for contactless payments will be raised and are already looking for stores to trial this new payment experience.
3D Camera
Panasonic are also showing off their new Toughpad FZ-M1 mk2 with 3D camera application. The RealSense camera has three lenses; conventional, infrared and infrared laser projector. Together these three lenses allow the device to infer depth by detecting infrared light that has bounced back from the objects in front of it.
In the retail world, Panasonic sees exciting applications for this technology. For example, in a sales situation mapping, design and simulation applications could show customers how items, such as furniture, could look in their homes. In the logistics and warehousing side of retail, the camera could be used for the instant measurement of boxes for shipping through to the assessment of warehouse space and capacity.
