3 ms·

My sense is the point of sale aspect of OpenTable is what makes them so entrenched... it's not easy to replace the hardware, retrain staff, etc, and the article

My sense is the point of sale aspect of OpenTable is what makes them so entrenched... it's not easy to replace the hardware, retrain staff, etc, and the article doesn't touch on this. Is there a startup competing in this space directly against OpenTable? Is Yelp the biggest potential contender (though i can't see them getting into the POS business)? Or Google?I could see google offering android-powered POS devices...

mattmanser 16y ago
In the UK there's at least http://www.godine.co.uk http://www.godine.co.uk, who recently won our local startup of the year: http://notttuesday.com/2010/11/11/and-the-winner-is/ http://notttuesday.com/2010/11/11/and-the-winner-is/
steveklabnik 16y ago
A fellow AlphaLab alumni is doing some interesting stuff in this space: http://nowaitapp.com/ http://nowaitapp.com/
stevenwei 16y ago
OpenTable doesn't actually sell the POS terminal (or software), they provide a standalone terminal that integrates with the restaurant's existing POS system. Urbanspoon Rez is the only direct competitor to OpenTable that I've heard of, but I have no idea how much traction they've gotten so far. Their pricing structures seems to significantly undercut OpenTable.
sandGorgon 16y ago
[ with 200$ 10.1' android multi-touch devices e.g. http://goo.gl/S5JHs http://goo.gl/S5JHs (I would suspect that wholesale costs would be closer to 100$). ] For seeding 10000 restaurants, you would barely need a million and half dollars (not counting android app development). I daresay that you could make the interface close enough without infringing on copyright issues. The key is to lock down a hardware manufacturer who can supply the devices with a low failure rate.
- illumin8 16y ago
  Or, spend a little more money and provide an iPad app. You get a proven reliable hardware platform plus it becomes a marketing tool - "choose our platform and you get a free iPad."

mattmanser 16y ago

In the UK there's at least http://www.godine.co.uk http://www.godine.co.uk, who recently won our local startup of the year: http://notttuesday.com/2010/11/11/and-the-winner-is/ http://notttuesday.com/2010/11/11/and-the-winner-is/

steveklabnik 16y ago

A fellow AlphaLab alumni is doing some interesting stuff in this space: http://nowaitapp.com/ http://nowaitapp.com/

stevenwei 16y ago

OpenTable doesn't actually sell the POS terminal (or software), they provide a standalone terminal that integrates with the restaurant's existing POS system. Urbanspoon Rez is the only direct competitor to OpenTable that I've heard of, but I have no idea how much traction they've gotten so far. Their pricing structures seems to significantly undercut OpenTable.

sandGorgon 16y ago

[ with 200$ 10.1' android multi-touch devices e.g. http://goo.gl/S5JHs http://goo.gl/S5JHs (I would suspect that wholesale costs would be closer to 100$). ] For seeding 10000 restaurants, you would barely need a million and half dollars (not counting android app development). I daresay that you could make the interface close enough without infringing on copyright issues. The key is to lock down a hardware manufacturer who can supply the devices with a low failure rate.

illumin8 16y ago
Or, spend a little more money and provide an iPad app. You get a proven reliable hardware platform plus it becomes a marketing tool - "choose our platform and you get a free iPad."