I’m seeing a rapid deployment of tablets for commercial use and decided it was time for an article about tablet mounts for kiosks and point of sale applications. The use of tablets in commercial retail settings vary from employee use for checkout (Apple Store), placing dessert orders (Chili’s) to placing order at mall kiosks.
An everyday home mount for a tablet isn’t going to cut it in a commercial setting. A mount or stand for a kiosk or point of sale has some important characteristics. First and foremost, it needs to be easily accessible to the user, likely the customer. Unlike a home mount, this is going to need to withstand a lot of interaction. Consumers are going to want to interface with the tablet and not have it fall over. A sturdy mount is needed that will support portrait and landscape mode as well as the ability to pivot the angle.
Another very important requirement for a kiosk or point of sale mount or stand is security. You don’t want your tablet walking away never to be seen again. The mount needs to have a locking cradle to make this hard to steal. Depending upon the situation, you may even want the mount to bolt down to the floor or a flat surface. If it’s a restaurant setting, potentially not, but if it’s a busy mall, then having the ability to bolt it down somewhere is probably a good idea.
Let’s look at a few commercial mounts good for this type of use. These are all going to use enclosures for the tablet so if you are planning to use a credit card reader such as Square, an extension cable is going to be needed.
The Mount-It! Floor Stand Tablet Holder is a good choice for midsize and large tablets. It has all of the features that are important in a stand made for kiosks and point of sale. This mount comes with a lock and key for the tablet case. The bottom plate can be removed and (if necessary) a bracket can be screwed or bolted into the ground for added security and stability. The tablet can rotate into any orientation and the angle of the device can be altered. This mount is going to fit tablets that range in size from an Apple Air to an Apple iPad 2 or Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 10.1.
Pictured within this article is the CTA Digital Anti-Theft Security Kiosk & POS Stand for iPad and iPad Air. CTA Digital makes some good mounts and this one is a good example of what they deliver. This mount features a locking cradle that will fit any Apple iPad Air or full sized iPad. They also have different models that will fit an Apple iPad Mini. This is a good mount to use for a table where the table needs to be moved. While I suppose you can secure to a table, out of the box, it’s meant to be portable.
If bolting to a desk or flat surface, the Arkon Locking Adjustable Tablet Mount with Key Lock for Tablets is a good choice. The guys at Arkon have been making good solid and affordable mounts for over 20 years and this is a recent introduction from them. The mount features an expandable cradle to fit a variety of tablets with a 7″-10″ screen size. The bottom of the mount has 4 holes pre-drilled to permit bolting onto any flat surface. It’s not completely theft proof, but harder to walk away with. Like the other mounts, these can rotate into portrait or landscape mode. The case on this one is a little different in that more of the tablet is exposed so you can more easily reach the buttons and ports on the side of the tablet.
The last mount for kiosks to show you is the Pyle Universal Tamper-Proof Anti-Theft Tablet Kiosk Stand Holder. This is also a tabletop mount. It has a unique feature where the cables can be hidden within the mounting base. The mount stands 8.4 inches high. The mount uses a cable lock and key so the mount itself is locked in place but with the cable can be moved within a small radius. This mount isn’t as rugged as the prior stands discussed. The expandable cradle fits tablets from 7.9” to 10.1”. The stand can be bolted to a flat surface and in fact, a wall mounting kit is included. While maybe not the best locking mount, it’s good for instances where you have a fairly constant eye on the situation.
These are four recommendations for mounts and stands in kiosks or any commercial retail environment where additional sturdiness and security is necessary. Remember, there’s no such thing as completely theft proof, so remember that when using any of these mounts.