It’s only natural that with tablets becoming more popular and television screens growing larger, someone would combine the ideas into a touchscreen table. But while a touch-capable coffee table would look cool in your living room, the general consumer market just isn’t quite there yet. That’s why we’re digging this Moneual Touch Table made for restaurants.
Designed to feature touchscreen menus, order placement interface, and payment options, the Touch Table would be the one stop shop for cafe-goers to enjoy a Seamless-esque experience by interacting solely with computers and minimally with humans. Except, of course, when the waitress brings you your coffee and pastry. Customers can also pay using their NFC-capable smartphones by simply tapping the device on the table screen. This could theoretically reduce human errors and make it easier for friends to split bills without asking the waitress to do the math twice. Additionally, the inclusion of an operating system within a table could mean infinitely possibilities, such as gaming apps, Foursquare check-ins, or Facebook browsing while you’re enjoying that drink. Just make sure you keep that Purell handy, because who knows how many people have fondled this table before you got there.
Moneual has yet to reveal much about Touch Table other than this photo teaser, but the company will be at the International CES and so will we. If the Touch Table is ready for play, we’ll be sure to keep you posted on interactivity, usability, and of course, price and availability.
[1/8/13 CES Update]
We finally got our hands on the Moneual Touch Table at CES 2013 and we can attest that this thing is pretty cool. While there are no NFC capacities to show, the table does have a credit card slot and USB cables so owners can port their own apps into the machine while customers can use the USB cord to charge their electronics. We also learned that the Touch Table runs on Windows, in case anyone was interested in developing their own custom app.
The current Moneual interface allows users to view available menu items and tap to order. After the selection has been made, they are taken to a screen where a circular clock denotes the order completion percentage. In the meantime, users can browse the Moneual catalog to learn more about the company has to offer. It’s a neat way to advertise without being too invasive, especially if it’s up to the customers to decide whether they want to interact with the machine. Price and availability are still undetermined as of the show.
