I love this idea. Mr. Keen does have a point, but picture this in your mind's eye:
You go into a Wal-Mart and walk up to a kiosk. A streaming video starts playing showing you the computer as it's being built to let you see exactly what you're getting. Cutaway views, descriptions of the components being added, the disk drive(s), graphics card, sound card, modem, CD-ROM drive, maybe a DVD drive, memory, whatever else you might want. THEN you start building it right there, interactively. Lifelike 3D graphics starts putting it together right before your eyes, prompting you every step of the way. Think of the marketing possibilities! Want a 3D graphics card instead of 2D? Hey, we'll throw in another 32Meg of RAM FREE! Want a 17" monitor with that? OK, here's the 56K modem - ON US! At the end of the process, you get a complete description of everything you're going to get, priced and summarised, ready for your APPROVAL. You say "OK", it prints out an invoice/configuration sheet, takes your payment info, and says "Thank you, Mr./Mrs./Ms. Computer Buyer, come back [tomorrow/the next day] and pick up your new PC. Or, Mr./Mrs./Ms. Computer Buyer, would you like to have it shipped right to your door?"
This is killer stuff, folks, and you're watching it happen and getting in at the beginning. As the Nissan ads say "Enjoy the ride!".
$^) |
