Sims Communications Inc, Chicago has introduced a high-tech automat – this one doesn’t accept coins, and it doesn’t dispense fast food, it asks for a credit card and it delivers up a cellular phone for hire: according to Reuter, when the customer returns the phone to the same kiosk, opening the door to replace it by using the same credit card, the system issues an itemised bill in about 15 seconds; the firm reckons Americans spend $500m every year renting cellular phones, but existing rental sources present lump sum bills, making it hard for the user to check where the money was spent or allocate costs between different calls – no, no, that’s not why the bill from your lawyer is so high – he allocates the entire bill to each of the clients in the course of whose business he made calls on the phone; the InstaPhone kiosks, each with 12 rental phones, are being installed at car rental agencies, hotels, convention centres and other locations, first in Florida and then across the US.
