News By James Plafke Feb. 4, 2014 2:05 pm
Though Bitcoin has barely broken into the realm of internet retailers, it has had an even more difficult time making its way to life outside of the internet — retail, restaurants, grocery stores, and basically anywhere you spend the majority of your money. On reason for this is because the price of one BTC is completely volatile — it may crash and burn or meteorically rise at the drop of a hat — and it’d be difficult giving a product a static price. A new device, BitTag, aims to alleviate the issue of ever-changing prices by using an ever-changing price tag.
The BitTag is a little white box that hangs around, for example, clothing on a rack, in place of the usual white tag we’re used to. The center of the box contains a little display that connects to an internet-enabled tablet via Bluetooth, and updates the price of the product based on the current value of one Bitcoin. To make a purchase, the customer shakes the little box, which displays a Bitcoin QR code on the screen, which can be scanned by the customer’s smartphone.
Unfortunately, one BitTag costs about $65, which would get extremely expensive if enough were purchased to outfit a store’s entire line of products. This is why BitTag is currently aimed at a niche market, says creator Samuel Cox. Even if the enormous cost of using one BitTag per retail item weren’t an issue, the device has a few other potential problems to overcome. For example, if the store drops internet connectivity, the BTC price of an item will no longer update. Furthermore, while being tethered to a tablet through Bluetooth is an affordable, clever way to handle that internet connectivity, relying on a middleman device just to list a product’s price could lead to unforeseen issues.
However, the niche market appeal could certainly work for the product, as it would be a novelty to walk into Footlocker and grab some new Jordans with your hard-earned Bitcoins.
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The BitTag is a little white box that hangs around, for example, clothing on a rack, in place of the usual white tag we’re used to. The center of the box contains a little display that connects to an internet-enabled tablet via Bluetooth, and updates the price of the product based on the current value of one Bitcoin. To make a purchase, the customer shakes the little box, which displays a Bitcoin QR code on the screen, which can be scanned by the customer’s smartphone.
Unfortunately, one BitTag costs about $65, which would get extremely expensive if enough were purchased to outfit a store’s entire line of products. This is why BitTag is currently aimed at a niche market, says creator Samuel Cox. Even if the enormous cost of using one BitTag per retail item weren’t an issue, the device has a few other potential problems to overcome. For example, if the store drops internet connectivity, the BTC price of an item will no longer update. Furthermore, while being tethered to a tablet through Bluetooth is an affordable, clever way to handle that internet connectivity, relying on a middleman device just to list a product’s price could lead to unforeseen issues.
However, the niche market appeal could certainly work for the product, as it would be a novelty to walk into Footlocker and grab some new Jordans with your hard-earned Bitcoins.
More...
