Mobile apps for paying the tab, browsing beers [The Baltimore Sun]

Mobile apps for paying the tab, browsing beers [The Baltimore Sun]





(Baltimore Sun (MD) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) May 17--You finished dessert a while ago but haven't been able to catch the waiter's eye. Asking for the check will produce only another wait. And when you do get the opportunity to pay, you're still left sitting at your table until the waiter returns with your change or the credit card receipt.Save on hydraulic hose and fittings,



It's the endgame to many restaurant meals. Now a Maryland technology company is trying to send it the way of the rotary phone.



MICROS Systems Inc. of Columbia,Welcome to the official Facebook Page about Ripcurl. which makes point-of-sale terminal equipment for restaurants,Not to be confused with RUBBER MATS available at your local hardware store has partnered with a Texas startup to expand the use of Tabbedout, an app that enables diners to pay with their smartphones.



The companies' goal? To let people settle their checks when they're ready to leave, reduce table turnaround times and encourage online interactions between customers and restaurants.



The app is rolling out at Houlihan's in Columbia, one of two restaurants in Maryland where patrons may now pay their bills on their iPhone or Android mobile phones. With MICROS now promoting the service to its thousands of restaurant clients, hundreds more businesses are expected to offer it by the end of the year.



"I think it's a brilliant plan," said Julie Stevens, the restaurant owner. "I, as a consumer, would love it." With the rise of smartphones, mobile apps and more powerful wireless technologies, high-tech startups, credit card companies, and hardware and software firms are working to revolutionize the restaurant experience, with tablet computer menus and mobile payments.The same Air purifier, cover removed.



"As much as this is going to benefit operators and consumers, we're also going to watch a culture change," said Tim Pincelli, director of products and training at MICROS. "It's about changing the way people do business in restaurants." Nationwide, the restaurant industry pulls in about $600 billion in annual sales, according to the National Restaurant Association.The name "magic cube" is not unique. But only a tiny fraction of the nation's 960,000 restaurants have adopted wireless technologies such as smartphones, handheld credit card scanners and tablet computers.



Consumers, however, are a little further along. A nationwide household survey commissioned last year by the restaurant association found about one-third of frequent restaurant patrons use Facebook. One in 12 uses mobile phone applications such as Foursquare and UrbanSpoon, which help people find and interact with restaurants.



The notion of using a smartphone as a digital wallet has been around for years. Generally, the mobile payment industry has focused on two technologies to enable the transfer of money -- with the second still in its infancy in the United States.



The first is a text-messaging system, in which a consumer uses a text code to buy an item, and the charge is added to the user's monthly cellphone bill.



A new type of mobile payment system that industry observers expect to ramp up this year involves a wireless technology known as near-field communication, or NFC. Mobile phones would come equipped with a new chip, which would allow consumers to simply wave their phones in front of an NFC wireless reader. The consumer's credit card would then automatically be charged.



Consumers can expect to see plenty of competition in mobile payments. Major players eyeing the technology include PayPal, Google and Apple, in addition to credit card companies.



Visa, the largest credit card processor in the United States, announced last week that it is developing its own mobile wallet system that will use NFC and other technologies. The plans call for enabling people to use their mobile wallets at retail locations and even to transfer funds between people.



Few phones now on the market are outfitted with NFC technology. Observers say it could take several years for the technology to gain widespread acceptance among retail establishments and the technology hardware and software business.



Until then, making mobile payments through a smartphone app may be the next best thing. MICROS officials said the Tabbedout app, which is built by ATX Innovation Inc. of Austin, Texas, makes sense in many restaurant settings.



NFC technology, they say, in many cases would require diners to hand their smartphones to a waiter to swipe at a terminal.



Plus, the Tabbedout app allows customers to broadcast their restaurant choices to social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare, which means free publicity for venues. So far, Tabbedout has been deployed in about 200 restaurants in 90 U.S. cities. MICROS expects to introduce the application to 50 to 100 restaurants a month, according to company officials.



"We see ourselves as complementary to [NFC] technologies as they emerge," said Rick Orr, chief executive officer of ATX. "We're able to accelerate people's acceptance of their smartphone as a mobile wallet." How quickly consumers adopt the smartphone payments remains the big question. Thomas Husson, a technology analyst with Forrester Research, wrote recently that mobile payment systems would have to provide a "clear improvement over existing payment methods," such as cash, plastic cards and bank transfers.



He estimated that 12 percent of adults who use the Internet in the United States have made a transaction with their mobile phones. Merchants will also have to motivate and educate consumers on the use of mobile payments as a simple, speedy and secure way to pay for products, Husson said.



"The next five years will bring upheaval to all the players," Husson wrote.



For years, restaurants -- from fast food to fine dining -- have experimented with new ways to allow customers to order and pay for their meals. MICROS, a dominant competitor in the restaurant point-of-sale terminal industry, has been delving into integrating technologies that can also be used by consumers.



In addition to Tabbedout, the company is launching a project at a Victoria's Gastro Pub in Columbia -- digital menus on iPads.



Restaurants across the country have tried handing out iPad menus, but the devices are expensive, starting at $500 each, which puts them beyond the financial reach of many venues. Plus, the restaurants usually have to partner with technology companies to build customized software.



At Victoria's, the restaurant has put its large libations menu -- about 50 pages -- into a digital format on an iPad. Diners can browse and sort 250 beers by category such as country of origin or type. And members of the restaurant's beer club can keep track of the beers they have tried through the iPad app.



The restaurant has six iPads that it gives to customers interested in its extensive drinks menu. Eventually, Victoria's expects to make an iPad app available on Apple's App Store, so its patrons can use it on their own iPads and bring them to the restaurant.



Eventually, customers might be able to place orders and pay their bills through the app, too, said Rachael Mull, Victoria's chief operating officer.



She said putting the beer menu on an iPad just made sense.



"That's the area where people come in and they're just so overwhelmed," she said.