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NCR Corp., one of two leading companies that sell self-check-in kiosks to the world's airports, has been piloting a technology that enables passengers to check in for flights using their cellular telephones.
The test, which also involves Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, and the Transportation Security Administration, could pave the way for payment of airline tickets using cellular telephones, says Gil Luria, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles.
The pilot also indicates that NCR, the world's largest ATM manufacturer based on 2007 shipments, sees limited growth in the ATM market, although observers say some of the world's regions will increase their ATM purchases over the next 10 years.
But with a slow growth in the ATM market, the Dayton, Ohio-based company is leveraging technology developed to operate and manage ATMs for other company verticals, such as travel, retail, health care as and financial services, to expand business opportunities, Luria says.
NCR is testing mobile airline check-in at LaGuardia Airport in Flushing, N.Y., Bill Nuti, NCR chairman and CEO, told analysts last week during the company's analyst day conference at the New York Stock Exchange.
Travelers checking in at La Guardia for U.S. flights download their boarding passes to their cellular telephones via delta.com, a Delta spokesperson says.
At the security checkpoint, Transportation Security Administration employees scan the electronic boarding passes, check the customers' identification and process them through security.
The customers then walk to the departure gate and presents their electronic boarding pass.
Mobile self check-in is keeping with NCR's theme of taking advantage of consumers' growing appetite for self-service instead of waiting for someone to wait on them.
The ATM manufacturer called self-service the next wave of meeting customer needs last April at its 2008 Self-Service Universe Executive Conference in Orlando, Fla.
The manufacturer also released survey results supporting its conclusions.
The survey results suggest that 86% of U.S. and Canadian residents are more likely to do business with companies that offer the flexibility to interact using self-service via the Internet or a mobile phone than those who do not.
Mobile self-check-in also is in keeping with NCR's strategy of reselling mobile-payment services to financial institutions and other industries by forming alliances with mobile-payments providers, including MShift Inc. of San Jose, Calif., and mFoundry Inc. of Sausalito, Calif.
Although NCR is testing mobile check-in here in the United States, the Japanese have used cellular telephones for flight check-in for years, says Francie Mendelshon, president and CEO of Summit Research Associates Inc., a kiosk-consulting firm based in the Washington suburb of Rockville, Md.
In Japan, passengers wave their cellphones in front of a bar-code reader that confirms the flight information before printing the ticket, she says.
"It's a natural extension of checking in at the kiosk. It is certainly the wave of the future," Mendelshon says.
Nick Holland, a senior analyst for Aite Group, a Boston-based consulting firm, says using mobile phones to check in makes a lot of sense.
"There are a finite number of self-service kiosks at airports, and mobile check-in would streamline checking in for your flight," says Holland, a frequent flier.
"Theoretically, NCR has moved the self-service airport kiosk from the airport to a person's cellular telephone. With mobile check-in, passengers can spend more time away from the airport."
Mobile check-in eventually will lead to mobile payment of airline tickets, Luria believes.
"In 10 years, passengers will pay for airline tickets with their cellular phones," Luria says. "We won't carry wallets. Instead, we will download our debit and credit cards into our cellular phone. The payment of airline tickets with cell phones is an easy extension from using cell phones to check in prior to boarding. The technology already is available, but the wireless companies, cell phone manufacturers and the banks still have to decide how they should be paid."
Holland does not believe wallets will disappear completely, but he agrees cell phones have become increasingly important to consumers.
"If a person leaves home without his cellular telephone, he likely to turn around and get it," Holland says.
NCR's mobile check-in application would work on Apple's iPhones, Blackberry devices and any smart phone with downloadable applications, Holland says. Mobile check-in operates on all mobile carriers' platforms.
Despite the convenience mobile check-in offers, Luria calls the technology more "wiz bang" than an innovation that will contribute significant revenue to NCR.
Dayton, Ohio-based NCR controls 40% of the self-check-in kiosk market worldwide, which includes about 20,000 machines, Mendelshon says. The company's chief rival is IBM Corp. of Armonk, N.Y. IBM also controls about 40% of the market. A self-check-in kiosk costs about $7,500, Mendelshon says. ATM
