Survey says: POS market growing, XP Embedded interest hight

Despite poor overall market conditions, shipments of point-of-sale (POS) terminals to Italy, Scandinavia, and the other EMEA ("Europe / Middle East / Africa") regions increased in 2002, according to a new study by IHL Consulting Group. Additionally, the study found that the total installed base of POS devices had increased 6% year-over-year.

The study also noted that nearly 1.6 Million POS terminals are still running DOS as the primary operating system, and that these aging POS terminals are most likely to be replaced by ones running either Linux or Microsoft's XP Embedded operating systems.

"The big near-term opportunity in EMEA are those DOS replacement terminals," said Greg Buzek, President of IHL Consulting Group. "Our sources are suggesting that Linux is getting more and more interest as these retailers look to replace aging terminals. However, new releases of XP Embedded operating system with a lower cost license fee for the retail market may slow that interest and sway that business towards Microsoft."

IHL's Study, 2003 EMEA Retail POS Terminal Market Study, reviews the shipments, installed base, and major trends by country and market segment for POS terminals in the EMEA region. Further information and a free study synopsis are available from the company's website.