App Gumball Vending Machine Makes For A Retro App Store

Everything in our world today seems so polished, so optimized and futuristic. Sometimes it can get to be a little too much, don’t you agree? I was just thinking the other day how refreshing it was to walk down to the store to buy the latest Nintendo NES games when they were launched back in the day. Today everything is purchased online. It’s kind of sad when you think about it. Maybe that is what the guys over at Razorfish are trying to change with their gumball vending machine.

A gumball vending machine? Yeah, but it’s not what you think. This thing is highly geeked out with some clever technology which allows you to buy apps the old retro way. Or should I say, the gumball vending machine way. It works exactly the same way except you get an app downloaded to your smartphone after inserting the coin and turning the metal lever. Call it the “retro” way of buying apps (even though it never was that way) in a world where everything is housed online.

One might ask what it is that Razorfish is trying to achieve with their little coin-operated app dispenser invention. In all honesty, I think they are only trying to bring a little bit of the old days into the new, if you know what I mean.

It’s a clever little contraption that could very well serve books, music, games and apps, whatever can be turned into ones and zeros really. Once you have turned the lever, you simply put your smartphone against the front of the machine and the app will automatically be downloaded to your smartphone. It uses near field communication in order to achieve this. It works flawlessly, and it’s quite impressive to see how the old has suddenly become new. Whether or not we will see these app gumball vending machines all around our public areas in the future is hard to say. The concept is certainly quirky enough to work, but the easy access to online app stores is still a little bit more appealing than a retro gumball machine. Or, what do you think? Maybe it could be used for advertising newly launched books and movies. That would actually be kind of cool.

Razorfish’s App Gumball Vending Machine Concept

Via: [designboom]