blog.geigel.com

Placing an order at a restaurant can sometimes be a hassle.  We’ve all been there.  Waiters make mistakes, cooks can’t always read the waiter’s handwriting, and a great deal of inneficiency accompanies the entire process.  

Now imagine being seated at a restaurant that supports ONOSYS‘ soon to be debuted iPhone ordering app.  With the flick of a finger you can browse the entire menu, select what meals you and your family want, and place the order with almost no staff involvment.  This type of scenario would not only speed up the order-to-fulfillment process (which would make restaurants happy) but would also cut down on tons of human mistakes that invariably occur.  I also think this would become an extremely hip and cool app for people with iPhones to flaunt.  There are over 40 million iPhone users nationwide who use their device for everything under the sun — why not order food?

Stan Garber, of ONOSYS, will be in Chicago this week at the Marketing Executives Group Conference (MEG) and National Restaurant Association Show to debut the app.  I subscribe to ONOSYS‘ newsletter called “Quick Bites” which includes more details.  Here’s the newsletter in it’s entirety that arrived to my inbox this afternoon:

Got an iPhone? Get a pizza.

ONOSYS is taking the wraps off of the industry’s hottest iPhone ordering system in Chicago this week at the Marketing Executives Group Conference (MEG) and National Restaurant Association Show, and you can see for yourself how your customers can order anything from your menu with just a touch of their finger on the screen of their iPhone. 

With over 40 million phones sold, the iPhone has revolutionized mobile computing, and ONOSYS has harnessed that mobile power in a simple, elegant and powerful ordering system. 

Coming to Chicago this week? I’d love to show you the next wave in online ordering: mobile transactions. See how our mobile ordering system can help you reach more customers, increase order size and satisfy your customers who are on the go. 

Want to track me down? Email me (stan@onosys.com) to set up a time to get together, or call me on my cell (440-785-2870) if you have a few minutes of free time at the Show. 

Stan Garber 

P.S.: If you see a guy on the show floor wearing “ONOSYS Orange” shoes, that’s me. Stop and say hello and I’ll show you how mobile ordering works on the fly! 

Out of the thousands of apps currently flooding Apple’s App Store I believe this has real potential.  If the ONOSYS people get this right, and are able to prove a realistic ROI for restaurants, they’ll have a killer app on their hands.

If anyone in Chicago has video of this app in action please send it to me.  I’d love to 1) view it and 2) post it for others.

A customer of mine, Babin Building Solutions, is participating in the 2009 Cleveland Home & Flower Show and just for fun I went to the website to take a look.

What caught my eye — almost immediately — was the fact that the image used for the “General Information” menu item was of Ireland’s Powerscourt Garden.  Most people wouldn’t notice this, but I did.  I was there just 2 years ago, and the unique layout of the garden/walkway set against the unforgettable mountainscape is not something you fail to recognize.

This lead me to question whether it was appropriate for the Home & Flower Show to utilize this image, and more to the point legally, if they’re even authorized to use it.  Did the person who built this website take that picture?  Did the person who built this website acquire the picture from a stock photography suite?  Did they steal it from Powerscourt’s website or another source?  Does Powerscourt need to authorize the use of pictures taken of its property if they’re to be used commercially?  And, of perhaps less import, does it hinder the advancement of the Home & Flower Show’s mission, which is presumably to advocate the gardens built and maintained here in Ohio.  Surely an image of some magnificent garden locally would be better than using an image of gardens thousands of miles away in a country that has no real connection to Ohio.

Of course the benefit of the doubt has to play a role here as it always does.  Chances are that the Home & Flower Show does have the right to use the image.  Chances are they were simply interested in making their menu look cool by using a picture of a really cool garden.  Chances are no one in Ohio (save for me) will even notice this and comment on it.

But, I couldn’t let it go without giving Powerscourt the props it rightly deserves.  It’s an amazing place with perfect architectural landscaping, pristinely manicured lawns, hundreds of species of flora and a number of fountains/ponds that stop you in your tracks.  I’d like to see a garden like that in Ohio… if it exists.

I’m a big nerd, and I don’t care. I love gadgets, and I love depending on them and exploiting every facet of technology for my benefit. If there’s an electronic device or service that can make my life easier or better then it’s probably owned by me, or something I will own soon. I literally get a hard on for technology.

1. My PDA/Phone/Smart Device
This is perhaps the greatest marriage of devices in tech history, besides of course for the mouse and keyboard. Just a few years ago people would carry multiple devices (I was one of them!) but the day these two gadgets decided to get it on will live on as the greatest step forward for mobile computing. Pockets around the world cheered in relief. I use a Moto Q and it is absolute bliss. My life is on my phone, and my life would be nothing without my smart device. I feel naked without it.

2. My Car’s GPS Unit
Whether you have a top-of-the-line device, or your phone is spitting out turn by turn directions, it is by far one of the coolest affordable tech gadgets you can get today. As a person who likes having information available to him instantly, and who always wants to know what’s going on, how could I not have a GPS device? GPS is simply awesome, and when I drive a car without one (even if I know where I’m going) I feel lost. Having the ability to always click the “Take me home” button if I’m somewhere I don’t know is a very reassuring and soothing feeling. All cars should come standard with this feature – no questions asked.

3. DVR and/or TiVO
I’ve had my DVR for just one week and I’m already spoiled. How cool is it to pause live tv when you run into the kitchen for a snack? Or to record shows simultaneously while watching another channel? I’ve already set my DVR to record every single COPS episode in existence. The only thing I wish they’d add is the ability to skip commercials from recorded programs, or to include a “Jump ahead 30 seconds” button to quickly get to your program. Do you hear me Pioneer? Make this functionality and you will make even more money with your DVR devices. But even without this it is still just awesome.

4. My Laptop
I have a TX series Vaio from Sony, which is one of their smallest series. When I need computing power that I can’t get in my phone I pack up my Vaio and head out the door. It is my little baby, and does everything I need it to do when I’m not at my main computer at home. I’ve even downloaded a program called PDANet which allows me to get wireless internet through Sprint so I can browse websites whenever (and wherever) I want. My laptop is the perfect device to go to a meeting and take notes with, and to show presentations on. And when it’s time to play I pop in a DVD and it’s instantly a portable DVD player. Without a doubt it I’d be lost without it.

5. 360 and Wii
God made videogames so we can blow up our friends virtually. There is nothing quite like getting a group of friends together, drinking, and shooting things. Videogame consoles provide a mechanism to relax and have some fun unlike anything else out there. I love my 360 (even though it’s died once) and I find the Wii to be so incredibly unique that I play it almost as much as my 360. Take these two things away from me and I might blow up my friends for real, and who’d want that to happen?