America Online Inc has invested $10m in Radiant Systems Inc to put the AOL client in a slew of retail outlets through Radiant’s point of sale (PoS) terminals. AOL said that the deal would enable subscribers to read their email on Radiant’s terminals at restaurants, convenience stores and gas stations. The deal is part of the AOL Anywhere push to put net access onto a variety of non-PC devices.
Peter Richardson, principal analyst for mobile communications at Dataquest, sees this deal as a sign that the internet is entering a new phase. It’s a signal that viewing what has traditionally been web content is moving away from the PC, he said. Richardson predicted that in five years time, 75% of web access would be from a non-PC device.
