Vending Machine Rings In New Mobile Concept

FIRST Ascot, then the world seems to be the new mantra for Brisbane businessmen Joe Stagnitti and Julian Yates

Courier Mail – August, 2013

FIRST Ascot, then the world seems to be the new mantra for Brisbane businessmen Joe Stagnitti and Julian Yates, who have begun an ambitious program to roll out hundreds of phone accessory vending machines.

After successfully operating their mobilecentral24/7 machines at Ascot’s Racecourse Rd since December, the pair have tweaked the offering and launched themselves into the next phase of development.

They were installing 11 machines in other parts of Queensland, as far afield as Rockhampton and Bundaberg, but the plan was to this year roll out “hundreds” including their first international vending machine in New Zealand.

Mr Yates said since they were inundated with requests from businesses and venues wan ling to host the machines.

Mobilecentral24/7 development and contracts manager Garry Grant said venues that hosted machines received a percentage of that machine’s gross turnover as payment. He said to host a machine, a location owner generally entered a site licence arrangement with mobilecentra124/7 which spelt out rights and responsibilities of both parties.

“Typical arrangements are that mobilecentral24/7 would own, install and operate the machine, and be responsible for stock selection, stock pricing, servicing, maintenance, repairs, etc,” he said.

Mr Yates said the machines were completely “cashless” with the latest payment technology from Nayax installed and processed by Bankwest.

The idea behind the machines, Mr Stagnitti said, was giving consumers a ‘better and simpler way” to replace lost or forgotten chargers and other accessories to do with their mobile devices.