IBM was out again this week demo’ing the prototype of the new POS. Haven’t heard much talk on this here, what do you guys think so far.
It’s definitely faster.
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"we have had the same Pieces Of Sh-- since the 70's. "
Not possible. The current POS are basically PCs with some extra hardware hanging off it. The IBM PC didn't hit the market until 1981. If you pop the cover off a POS you'll see that it has a fairly modern processor on the motherboard. Not some new spiffy hex core machine but something separated from the 8088 by generations.
So, not 70s tech.
The problem with the POS is not the hardware, it is the software and the senseless upgrades. The software that was running when I started was fast and reliable.
1amw - I doubt they'd need to 'rewire the stores'. Cat5 Ethernet has been pretty standard for decades, and registers don't need a ton of bandwidth.
A new pos. It's been talked about for years in our kmart store. They said in 2011 we would be getting new pos tills. They trialed it in a few stores and would eventually get to us with the ipods and I pads etc. Tills last got an upgrade on early 2000s. I don't see eddie putting much into this as he would have a rewire the stores, upgrade the mainframe operating systems etc. A big expense for a company that is dying. And while hes at replace the broken floors and dirty bathrooms. Not gonna happen when it's cheaper to shut the stores down and buy back the real estate.
@jvb- the IBM POS systems are not from the '70s, or even from the '90s for that matter. The SurePOS 3000s in use across Sears and Kmart are all circa early 2000s machines. As a hint, no system from the '70s would run a touchscreen interface, even the most powerful, most expensive iron of the time. An Android or iPhone has more computing power than the top supercomputers of the '70s.
That's not to say that they do need to be replaced though. IBM hardware lasts forever but it doesn't mean much when the software doesn't run well.
I'm not exactly positive Sears is in the market for new POS systems at this point. Realistically, it is the least of their worries now. The company is struggling more than ever. Loans from Eddie are more frequent and given closer together (how much cash are they burning?). Suppliers are running for the fire exits (Whirlpool is the latest). Stores are closing in secret.
Wayne, NJ store has the same POS. All they did was hide the dinosaur register, seperate touch screen and mount it on a wooden frame. Ive worked in that store.
Just watched a video of the jersey store in another thread and there does appear to be a new POS. I’m shocked.
Now is this a SHOS bannered store or a SHLD bannered store?
@uhn - Thank you, appreciate the information you provided!
It’s actually a joint venture 80/20 but they do tout the IBM name, I thought deployment was put on hold till FY2018 tho
https://risnews.com/ibm-pos-business-going-toshiba-tec-initial-thoughts
I was under the impression that IBM was no longer involved in the POS business.
"On 17 April 2012, IBM announced a definitive agreement under which Toshiba TEC acquired IBM's Retail Store Solutions business.[5]"
Have no clue what your talking about we have had the same Pieces Of Sh-- since the 70's. Upgrades to the software but registers are the same.