Digital photo booths offering greater speed, versatility and fun have been installed in Hong Kong as a launch pad to the Chinese mainland

Hong Kong is being used as a testing ground for the huge Chinese mainland market by an innovative UK-based technology transfer company that has recently launched digital photo booths in the SAR. 

SRK Technologies Limited has started to operate pilot kiosks at Mass Transit Railway stations at Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay and Tsuen Wan. The kiosks have been manufactured in the UK by B. Rosenberg Ltd, a sister company of SRK.

Greater speed, versatility and fun are the key advantages digital photo kiosks offer compared to traditional booths which use wet chemicals to develop images, according to company chairman and founder Michael Rosenberg.

"Our digital backdrops allow youngsters to appear next to pictures of their favourite pop stars or the latest sporting idols, and it's easy to change and update the images," explained Mr Rosenberg. "We also have software which can sketch portraits of customers instead of photos."

The kiosks are internet-enabled so that customers will be able to email their photos to friends, and so engineers in the UK can provide online support via a remote diagnostic system. The kiosks are operated under the name Kioskpoint China by SRK with local partners the Omnicorp Group, which is listed in Hong Kong and specialises in smart card technology.

"Once we are satisfied with the test we intend to bring more kiosks into Hong Kong, but our main sights are set on the China market," Mr Rosenberg said.

"The mainland until recently had no tradition of vending machines and few photo kiosks currently exist in the market, so the potential is massive, particularly with the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo coming up.

"There's also great scope to expand the functions and features of the kiosks so they can become online information centres for government and commercial purposes, something which could have great appeal in rural parts of China."

In due course SRK also hopes to establish an operation to manufacture the kiosks in China under licence from B. Rosenberg Ltd.

Mr Rosenberg, who describes himself as a "serial entrepreneur", firmly believes that in the future the flow of technology will not be just from West to East.

"Over the next five years China is set to become a major exporter of technology - it's just a generation thing, with the students graduating now becoming entrepreneurs."

Related links:
SRK Technologies Limited www.srktech.com
MTR www.mtrcorp.com