PORTLAND, OR (March 22, 2016) – PayRange Inc., maker of the world’s simplest mobile payment solution for machines, was recognized by the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) during their annual meeting held in conjunction with the 2016 Amusement Expo in Las Vegas. PayRange was awarded an unprecedented, two, Innovator Awards for their BluKey Smart™ mobile payment device and for their Dynamic Pricing function for amusement machines. During the announcement of the awards, it was noted that this was the first time in the 16-year history of the awards that any company has had two products in the finals, and the first time any company has won two Innovator Awards in the same year.
The Innovator Awards Program began in 2001 and was created to acknowledge AMOA member firms whose new offerings at the annual Amusement Expo demonstrate, in the opinion of the judging panel, the true meaning of the word ‘innovation’, as applied to the coin-operated entertainment industry. These prestigious awards require a thorough vetting of entries, including phone interviews, in-person interviews, and live demos of the product on the show floor in front of a panel of judges made up of AMOA directors and members.
BluKey Smart is a hardware device that installs in an amusement machine to add mobile payment capabilities to the machine. It provides the same mobile payment functionality on the PayRange network as the original PayRange BluKey™ and BluKey Plus™ devices for vending, but includes multiple power inputs and connections for easy integration with a variety of machine interfaces. BluKey Smart also has several amusement-specific features designed into it. This culmination of design was deemed truly innovative by the judges and secured PayRange the first of their two Innovator Awards.
Dynamic Pricing earned the second Innovator Award by showing the judging panel the never-before-available ability to change pricing on any piece of amusement equipment remotely, based upon a pricing schedule set on the PayRange web-based console. With Dynamic Pricing, a machine operator can create a preset schedule, such as a happy hour price, for their machines and apply that price to any machine they select with the scheduling parameters they select. This feature does not affect the cash or coin price of a machine, but only the mobile price via the PayRange App, providing a further incentive for consumers to download the app and use it to take advantage of the dynamic pricing schedules set by operators.
“It was an honor to accept these two awards. PayRange has been an innovative company from the start, tackling the problem of machine payment in a way that provides a great user experience for the consumer, but perhaps more importantly, in a simple and cost-effective way for machine operators. Our lack of monthly fees or requirements for data-connections separate our patented solution from all other cashless technologies. It’s validating to have the PayRange solution recognized with two Innovator Awards by such an important trade association.” stated PayRange founder and CEO Paresh Patel, a former vending and amusement operator.
