IBar
This is propably the most high tech bar in the whole world. The IBar finds out which drink you’re having by using sensors that calculate the glass shape and then link it to the content of the glass. So if you drink a prosecco, the IBar will recognize that because you won’t usually have a whiskey on the rocks in a similarly shaped glass.
So what’s happening, I ask myself, if you’re drinking a cosmopolitan… How will the bar recognize that you’re not having a Martini? Will the IBar identify it because of the customer’s gender? Men don’t usually drink cosmopolitans, or do they now? What if the guest is a gay man or a female whiskey amateur?
But experts say that within a few years we’ll be using it to pay for our drink by simply placing a credit card on it. They also say the interactive device will be able to upload pics and videos from your mobile to show off to other bar guests in the same way. Plus punters will be able to flick through food menues, special drinks offers and jukebox tracks on the multitouch bar surface.
The first ever iBar was this week installed at London’s swanky Soho nightclub 24.
September 27th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
It’s interesting, but I’m still waiting to see what value bars will get from it. At the moment, it’s more of a high-tech, high-price novelty.
The idea has potential, and I wouldn’t discourage the creators from pursuing it, but I would encourage them to pay attention to how people act in bars, and to incorporate features that make the bar-going experience better/easier/more entertaining.
Flash gets attention, but an idea has to have substance and add value as well. What would make bar owners want to buy a £70,000 gadget–besides the brag/posh factor?