Commonwealth Bank has brought out a brand new point-of-sale system dubbed Pi, featuring an entirely new platform. Pi is a software platform built on industry-standard technologies and due to it being an open platform, it allows anyone to contribute apps or extra functionality for Pi customers. Combined with a 7-inch Android-based tablet called Albert (I don’t know why, but you’ll want to assume that it’s something positive), it hopes to change the customer experience to be mobile and more social.
The Albert tablet also features a printer, 8MP camera and can function as a merchant terminal; however you don’t need to get the tablet. An iPod touch, iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S can be used as well via its Leo device, a merchant terminal case – which could pose it as an Australian alternative to Square.
Developers will be able to expand on the functionality of Pi with different applications to improve “interactions” between businesses and customers. A video demo (which can be found below) shown off something called “Split the Bill” – which, as its name suggests, lets you split the bill in an easy fashion.
Pi will be available through Leo or Albert, and the Albert tablet will be rolled out sometime next year. Commonwealth Bank expects it gets full certification by Q2 (meaning that it has to be tested for security, because you don’t want someone to get your credit card information)