Tough touch screen survives Austrian kiosks

A 3M Touch Systems UK product story

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Mar 23, 2005

Telekom Austria has converted 500 conventional telephone boxes into advanced multimedia kiosks specifically designed with wheelchair accessibility in mind.

Telekom Austria has converted 500 conventional telephone boxes into advanced multimedia kiosks specifically designed with wheelchair accessibility in mind.

Developed in partnership with 3M Touch Systems and APC Interactive Solutions, an Austria-based specialist of public multimedia terminals, the new MultiMediaStations offer simple and convenient broadband Internet access for users nationwide.

To date, APC Interactive has transformed 500 Telekom Austria kiosks in more than 200 communities into highly advanced MultiMediaStations.

A further 1300 are expected by the end of 2005.

The MultiMediaStation has been designed to allow ultimate ease of use.

A highly sophisticated graphical interface enables a comfortable and enjoyable user-friendly experience without the need for an external keyboard.

Users can make telephone calls, surf the web, send SMS, photo and video messages, e-mails and digital greeting cards by simply touching buttons on the screen.

Payments can be made either in cash with Euro coins or with a credit card.

As the stations have to withstand rough handling, vandalism and extreme weather, it was important that all component parts have extreme robustness and durability in harsh conditions.

For this reason, APC Interactive selected MicroTouch Tough Touch ClearTek capacitive touch screens supplied by IQ Automation, a Munich-based distributor of 3M Touch Systems in Austria.

Depending on location, the screens are 15, 17 or 19in in size.

With a layer of chemically strengthened glass laminated to the back of a ClearTek capacitive sensor the Tough Touch touch screens provide dramatic impact resistance making it ideal for unattended and high threat environments.

A transparent overcoat provides resistance against surface scratches and abrasions, as well as contaminants such as chemicals, grease, dirt and water.

Such contaminations neither disturb the precision nor the resolution of the touch screen ensuring fast and accurate touch performance.

Austria is not the only country to benefit from these multimedia hotspots.

APC Interactive is already planning future installations in Germany and Slovenia.