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When Devon Watson describes the automated teller machine of the future, it's not a clunky gray terminal that sucks in a card and spits out money. It's an electronic financial hub that lets customers take banking into their own hands, literally, by interacting with their smart phones and tablets.
That shift in the sophistication and function of the ATM described by Mr. Watson, senior director of software product management at ATM maker Diebold Inc., is in response to changing consumer wants as the tech-savvy millennial generation becomes more of a market force and more people worldwide embrace the use of mobile devices.
And it is obvious Diebold intends to be a driver of such change.
Last week, Diebold announced a partnership with Paydiant Inc., creator of cloud-based mobile wallet and payment technology, that will let customers use their smart phones instead of credit or debit cards to withdraw money from their ATMs.
A few weeks earlier, Mr. Watson and Jim Block, director of advanced technology at Diebold, gave presentations on "The ATM Reimagined" at ATM Industry Association conferences in London and Montreal. Diebold recently has rolled out a conceptual design that illustrates how the company plans to adapt ATMs to better suit millennials - those consumers...