The next time you order fries at French Fry Heaven in St. Augustine, Fl., don’t be surprised by the lack of a cash register. The food stand is one of a rapidly growing number of small businesses that are bypassing traditional cash register systems in favor of an iPad point of sale system. The high-tech systems allow the iPad screen to act as the register, taking orders, connecting with payment systems to handle transactions and delivering the orders wirelessly to the kitchen.

Understanding Point of Sales Systems

The system also allows for other uses, such as servers carrying the tablets to the customers and using them as a menu and service facilitator, which links back into the main software to handle transactions. The tools are proving to be more than just high-tech toys. With user-friendly interfaces they have the potential to cut down staff training time and reduce order errors and waste.

Apple on the Fly

Apple tablets are also making their way into the skies. Delta Airlines has launched a service in their revamped New York LaGuardia terminal to allow passengers waiting for their flights to order food in select restaurants, even swiping their credit cards to pay for their orders.

Virgin App

Virgin Airlines in Australia have gone one better. The have developed an app, available in the Australian Apple app store, that allows iPad users to stream movies, TV shows and music while in-flight, from the airline’s selection of over 300 hours of content.

Didn’t bring your iPad? Business Class passengers on the Virgin Australia flights can also select movies and other content from on board Galaxy Tab 10.1 devices that are handed out after takeoff. Coach passengers best remember to bring their own.

Even in the home, Savant Systems have developed an iPad based home automation system that allows users to not only control their flat screen TV or music system, but any electronic device in the house. The application that appears on the tablet’s screen is a photo image of the room, and users can control lights, security systems or even air-conditioning by touching the relevant item on the screen. Automation systems have been used in business for some time, but with the rise of tablet computers and apps that are as friendly to use as they are on the budget, they have made their way onto the must have list for home theater enthusiasts.