Welcome our phone-dispensing robot overlords

by Chris Ziegler, posted Sep 22nd 2006 at 2:59PM

Say you're zoning out in SFO (that's San Francisco International Airport for the lay folk), waiting for a connecting flight, and you start to daydream about that Motorola PEBL you've had your eye on for the past few months. Wouldn't it be great if you could get the phone, like, right now, all without having to interact with a human being? Motorola has started pilot testing of its "INSTANTMOTO" automated kiosks in SFO and Macy's flagship State Street store in downtown Chicago (pictured above), offering a variety of phones -- both the unlocked and carrier-locked varieties -- and all manner of accessories. The pilot program will be expanded to a total of about 20 airport and mall locations by year's end; we're guessing it feels a little weird to feed a vending machine with a couple hundred singles, but fortunately, the vend-bot happily takes plastic.

Filed under: Motorola, Misc

Tags: kiosk, moto, motorola, sale, sell, store

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

korey @ Sep 22nd 2006 4:09PM

How much for a PEBL black or white dont really care just interested so i can get to my local airport and get a PEBL for cingular.

Neutral

Jeff Mac @ Sep 22nd 2006 4:15PM

I, for one, welcome welcoming our phone-dispensing robot overlords.

Neutral

mroach @ Sep 22nd 2006 4:35PM

I wonder if that soda vending machine trick will work on these :)

Neutral

biz @ Sep 22nd 2006 5:16PM

The only way I'd use a vending machine to buy a phone is if there was a leprechaun living inside of it to answer all of my inevitable tech questions. And if there was a leprechaun living inside of it...I imagine that the horrible smell would scare off customers.

Neutral

T-Will @ Sep 22nd 2006 5:29PM

I like to mess around with phones for a while before I actually buy one, so this wouldn't work for me.

Sorry cell-phone dispensing vending machine robot overlords.

Neutral

bryan harig @ Sep 22nd 2006 5:45PM

Will they come fully charged? That would be awesome, swipe your card, swap your sim and you have a ready to go phone!

Neutral

PainCorp @ Sep 22nd 2006 9:39PM

i honestly dont see these things taking off...so few people buy phones from retail locations off contract that its not going to be worth it to them in the long run...and these machines have to be pretty pricey...

Neutral

Donald @ Sep 22nd 2006 10:45PM

What about a hack that would have them dispensing Nokias? At least then there'd be some quality product. :P

Neutral

srw985 @ Sep 23rd 2006 4:38AM

1st. mroach, isnt that what engadget actually said in the post about the soda vending machine trick

2nd. these have been around for ages. phone dispensing vending machines, aswell as ipod dispensing machines etc, have been around for years. theres some in the major vodafone stores in the UK, theres a smaller one in the vodafone trafford centre for example.

Neutral

nick c @ Sep 23rd 2006 1:43PM

they have one of these at a macy's near my house for iPods, but i never took a close look at it

looks fun tho for those times when you want to be cool but you aren't

Neutral

strider_mt2k @ Sep 24th 2006 7:48AM

Way to get in the spirit Engadget! :D

Neutral

Ron @ Nov 28th 2006 11:19PM

There's one at the Sony Metreon on Mission and 4th in downtown SF. It's HUGE!

Neutral

Ron @ Nov 28th 2006 11:20PM

There's one at the Sony Metreon on Mission and 4th in downtown SF.
It's HUGE!

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