Japanese Vending Machine Doubles As Photobooth And Line Messaging Facilitator

TOKYO -- Japanese drinks manufacturer Kirin Beverage Co. has created a vending machine that gives patrons the option to take a selfie after purchasing a beverage. Patrons can decorate their photos at the machine with a choice of digital frames, backgrounds and effects, and share them via the Line messaging app.

Developed in collaboration with Line and Intel, the Vendorphoto features a touchscreen display that provides details about Kirin's products. It can also message disaster prevention information, early earthquake warnings and tsunami alerts, in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean.

The photobooth-enabled vending machines are expected to roll out in Japan this month.

Line began as a response to Japan's devastating TÅ_x008d_hoku earthquake, which in March 2011 damaged telecommunications infrastructure nationwide, obliging employees at NHN (New Human Network) Japan to rely on Internet-based resources to communicate. NHN Japan's engineers developed Line to facilitate this, and the company later released the app for public use. The number of users is expected to pass 700 million by year's end.