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A new service allowing people to buy soft drinks from vending machines using a mobile phone is being tested by Coca Cola and NTT Docomo.
The "I-vending project" will see I-mode being linked with Coca Cola group vending machines in Japan to determine the commercial feasibility of such a service.
Irish company Itsmobile launched the first vending machine which allowed people to buy products via a mobile phone in Ireland in June of 2000.
However, managing director Kieran McCrea said it was re-examining the revenue model involved in the service.
The "I-vending project" will be trialed in metropolitan Tokyo this summer. I-mode users will be able to buy soft drinks and similar products on a cashless basis from special vending machines by signing up for the service.
The machine verifies the user's identity, after which the user can insert funds into any for subsequent cashless purchases.
Messages and advertisements will be displayed on i-mode handsets and users will receive points for using the service, which they will be able to redeem for purchases.
With the system developed by Itsmobile for Eircell, a user simply sends a text message via short messaging service (SMS), which tells the vending machine which drawer to drop a drink from.
An SMS server is built into a normal Coke vending machine, like a phone and a PC together. Because they are fixed function, they are very small, about the size of a packet of cigarettes.
However, it is believed that margins with providing such a service could almost be negligible for a service provider because people would not be willing to pay more to buy via their WAP phone.
Itsmobile offers a range of wireless ticketing services for cinemas, theatre, sports venues as well as its parking and vending machine services.
NTT DoCoMo is Japan's largest mobile communications operator, with over 34 Million subscribers. The number of subscribers to its I-mode service in Japan was over 21 million by February 2001.
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