Click&Pizza: it does what it says on the box
Last week two members from the Thinking Things project set up by Telefónica’s R+D division, along with two guys from Telepizza’s technology department came to my office to unveil the prototype of Click&Pizza, a button in the form of a chargeable fridge magnet that sends a text message to the nearest outlet asking them to bring round your favorite pizza.
I had already heard about the idea from a friend, and was impressed by its simplicity, and above all by the way it brought together concepts such as the internet of things, intelligent objects, real time connectivity, or services based on context. The only thing wrong, given that it was now 4 pm and I hadn’t yet eaten, was that the button was not yet connected.
Press the button, which is about the same size as the illustration, and it sends a request for a pizza, the topping for which is in accordance with the customer’s pre-established preferences. An LED screen then begins blinking behind the image of the pizza. After a few moments, the LED stops blinking and you receive an SMS confirming the order on you cellphone. To cancel a mistaken order, you simply press the button again, and the green light changes to red. Otherwise, within 30 minutes, a delivery person will appear at your door with a piping hot pizza.
What makes the idea such a good one is that although we think of pizza as something simple, there are in fact multiple combinations of ingredients, as well as bases and sizes. Nevertheless, more than a quarter of Telepizza’s pizzas are ordered online, and around a third of these via cellphones. Regular customers already have an online profile associated with a favorite pizza. Customers who buy pizza only now and then are unlikely to have a favorite, and will need to use the website, call their order in, or go to the shop in person. But Telepizza believes it has enough regular customers to make this idea fly.
There is no denying the appeal of reducing a relatively complex process to something as simple as pressing a button. The hunger button, as the project was initially known (it was later changed to avoid negative connotations) involved bringing together software and hardware, designing a series of prototypes, printing in 3D, and making strategic and commercial decisions, as well as a process of trial and error that originally involved a list of possible ingredients on the fridge magnet that could be selected with a click, an idea that was eventually dropped, in part due to limited battery life. I also discussed with the design team issues like launch strategy and whether regular customers should be given the device free of charge. If so, how many pizzas would each customer have to buy to make the project viable?
In the end, Telefónica and Telepizza have come up with a device operated with a single action, and with an LED that can code the simple answers required to know what is going on, at the same time as having mechanisms to cover up possible mistakes, setting it off accidentally or dropping it, etc. In short, one of those things that can be created with simple components and an open mind. Simple, but brilliant.
(En español, aquí)
