Now that the buzz has died down, Shahbazi, 27, is wasting no time touting his company's wares: interactive kiosks and software that provides services like secure Web access. Banks can use the kiosks to introduce customers to self-serve financial services. Retailers can offer the best of bricks and clicks with in-store access to online inventories and coupons; they can even offer video e-mail, which allows users to attach a link to a video-audio clip to an e-mail message.

If its list of customers is any indication, Info Touch (CDNX: IFT), based in Burnaby, BC, deserves a second look. Burger King, Chase Manhattan, Chapter's (now part of Indigo Books & Music), Mac's Milk—even the US Marines—are onboard. All told, Info Touch has installed about 2,000 coin-operated kiosks and more than 6,000 units of its software worldwide. Revenue for fiscal 2000 was $4.3 million, almost double 1999 figures—but the company still lost $1.7 million.

Info Touch hopes to have seen its last money-losing year, though. Research firm Frost & Sullivan says the market for interactive kiosks, which sat at US$807 million in 1999, will grow by about 20% for the next five years. Shahbazi estimates Info Touch faces 400 competitors—but only 10% of them seriously focused on the market. "A lot of kiosk makers out there are very product-centric, and we tried that," he says. "The problem is that any part of your business needs to be thought of as part of your business. It needs support of management, it needs to be in a suitable location, it needs to be maintained. It needs a little bit of love."

Despite his youthful enthusiasm, Shahbazi is very serious about the company he took over in 1997. He joined Info Touch as a sales rep in 1995. At the time, it was making kiosks and multimedia software. After assuming control—at the age of 22—he decided to focus on Netlock, software that enables systems administrators to limit access to certain programs. It was a minor hit with cyber-café owners, and Info Touch decided to develop a Net-focused version, Surfnet Premiere, that included embedded video e-mail, voice-over-IP, billing and surfing capabilities.

The company was also manufacturing interactive kiosks, and Shahbazi realized they could generate recurring revenue if Info Touch would give customers a break on the price of the hardware in exchange for a cut of each transaction. At the 300-plus kiosks in Chapters outlets across Canada, for instance, Info Touch takes a 25% cut of every transaction. Shahbazi hopes to increase that revenue stream by adding even more features. "Once that kiosk goes into the ground," he says, "I want to be able to add applications like video-teleconferencing and voice-over-IP."

That's where Compaq comes in. Aside from getting a 20% stake in the company and access to coveted retail, finance and telco markets, Compaq will now make and install Info Touch's kiosks. "We get the hardware and services components and a vertical market play in areas we focus on," says Ralph Hyatt, vice-president of Compaq's access business group.

That leaves Info Touch free to concentrate on developing new services. Next up: video teleconferencing, set to go live at 35 US stores in mid-September, thanks to a deal with a major convenience store chain. Info Touch has also struck a deal to upgrade the hundreds of Surfnet kiosks it has around the globe, using Internet video communication software developed by Vancouver-based Eyeball Networks. "It will enable Surfnet users all over the world to talk to each other," says Shahbazi. "It's kind of like the Jetsons' thing." The new service will cost about 5¢ a minute on top of regular surfing charges of up to 33¢. The US Marines, in a joint deal with MCI WorldCom, have already installed 24 video-equipped kiosks at Camp Pendleton near San Diego that will allow computerless soldiers to contact family—and even wave hello. If the terminals are a hit, the Marines could order another 600 of them for installations across the US.

None of this has done much for Info Touch's stock, however. Today, it's languishing in the 40¢ range—down from a 52-week high of $1.48. But Shahbazi expects to see some upward movement in fiscal 2002, once the company strings together a few profitable quarters. But that will happen only if customers keep stuffing quarters—of the silver variety, that is—into Info Touch's kiosks.