ePub: taking it to the Max
They say the best things come in small packages, and it is a mantra which Andy Egan, founder and chief executive of pub technology company Felix, wholeheartedly believes in.
Andy came up with the idea for the Max Box, a multi-purpose kiosk featuring a digital jukebox, music files downloadable onto MP3 players, an ATM machine and much more, in 2002. The principle is that this disparate group of gadgets can be combined in one unit. Now Andy is preparing for the launch of a host of new functions, and the latest battle in pub entertainment that he believes will be fought over mobile phones.
With the new Max Box, digital music files and games such as sudoku can be downloaded onto mobiles. This type of high-tech digital wizardry will soon become a conventional way of consuming entertainment, Andy believes. "Mobile phones are the next generation of wireless technology for pubs to look at," he says.
"The Max Box simplifies the process for what can be daunting technology. We are trying to take the consumer from being technophobic to being technocentric without them realising they have been on the journey. All they need to do is follow instructions on screen and wait for the ping that tells them their download has arrived."
It is the latest development for a company that has been all about compressing technology into small, user-friendly packages. Felix's first move was partnering with Sega in 1999 to release Everyone's A Winner, a patented quiz game that guarantees a prize of retail vouchers worth at least double the cost of taking part.
Andy then looked at introducing an ATM, noticing that "there's always an issue with the £1.50 surcharge. We thought we could take the sting out of that by saying 'OK, you will still pay the £1.50 to get the cash, but then you will get the retail reward of vouchers to spend in a shop chain'."
From there Max Box grew to encompass the myriad functions that it does today. Andy says:
"We realised that if you have a box that costs a couple of thousand quid and has a broadband line going through it, then you may as well make full use of it by squirting more stuff through the broadband.
"It grew into all these other applications, all delivering incremental revenue but taking up the same amount of floor space."
The Max Box Mini, a version without the ATM launched in January for pubs contracted to other ATM suppliers, has exceeded Andy's expectations. With 120 installed nationally and orders for 500 more, his target is to have a total of 10,000 in place eventually.
From this month, pub customers can expect to start seeing options to order movie tickets, concert tickets and sports tickets on Max Box screens, as well as the ability to download ebooks. They will also start to see prototype versions of a model of the Max Box designed to be used outdoors, in pub beer gardens and smoking areas. This will be integrated into walls like standard cash machines, and has been designed specifically with the smoking ban in mind.
"When they have smokers outside, pubs will still be able to get money in this way from consumers," Andy says.
