FRANKLIN, Tenn. - North American consumers continue to embrace self-service technology, as transactions at self-service kiosks will surpass $740 billion in 2010. However, the rate of growth going forward may be tempered in favor of enabling consumer smartphones in the future, according to a new research study conducted by the IHL Group.

"Self-service continues to grow, and clearly DVD kiosks are driving huge increases in the number of units in the market. However, the rise of consumer mobile devices will have an adverse effect on many new kiosk installations within the next two years," said Greg Buzek, president of the IHL Group, in a press release. IHL Group is an analyst firm and consultancy that serves retailers and retail technology vendors.

"The information kiosks will soon give way to the kiosk in the consumer??s pocket, with many consumers already doing price comparison shopping and reading reviews while at the shelf," he said. "In addition, what is particularly interesting looking forward is that Apple has patents in loyalty and payment technologies. It is foreseeable that transactions even in the retail environment could be scanned and transacted through the mobile device rather than a stationary self-checkout."

The market study "2010 North American Self-Service Kiosks" examines the increasing use of six types of self-service kiosks where payment is accepted: self-checkout systems, ticketing kiosks, check-in kiosks, food ordering, postal and other retail kiosks.