New Lucidiom Kiosks to Bring Self-Service Personalization

image of personalized mug
A personalized mug, one example of the type of products that will be available from the Lucidiom APM.

2005-09-15 - Vienna, VA, USA: Automatic Photo Machine (APM) supplier Lucidiom has announced new APM systems that allows photofinishing retailers to offer consumers the ability to create personalized gifts and greetings.

"Consumers take more pictures during the holiday season than any other time of the year and are becoming more comfortable with digital photography in general and digital photo kiosks in particular," said Lucidiom President and CTO Steve Giordano, Jr.

Lucidiom Inc. is the worldwide provider of more than 10,000 intelligent, networked digital photo solutions and creator of the original Automated Photo Machine - a self-service digital photofinishing kiosk.

Ludiciom's new Creative Collections software enhancement allows consumers to place their digital photos in a wide range of greeting cards templates, plus create their own templates. Consumers also can create scrapbook templates, magazine covers and other keepsake gifts such as coffee mugs, bowls, plates and Lucite statues.

The new kiosk software will be used by more than 4,000 photofinishing retailers worldwide. Consumers will be able to take their digital cameras directly to the retail outlet and create customized holiday gifts.

With the integration of Lucidiom's Photo IQ suite, consumers get numerous extra benefits, such as red-eye elimination, cropping and image enhancement on photographs. As far as the actual photo printing aspect is concerned, consumers can go beyond standard 4x6 prints to create passport photos, enlargements and multiple-sized photo packages, as well as scan in old photos.

Systems to personalize objects with images have generally been factory-based, with the customer ordering either online or at a retail outlet. The prospect of APM-based self-service personalization of everyday products will increase competition for the online vendors. At some point this will inevitably result in downward pressure on prices. Another important issue is that APM-based personalization will provide 'instant gratification' to the consumer. The time-lag involved in ordering personalized products online may make a trip to the local retail outlet a more favourable option for some.

Interested in personalization? Have your say in the Mass Customization and Personalization Forum