Photo kiosks have been a staple of American culture for decades. From flirting with a new romantic interest to generating lasting memories with friends and family, the photo kiosk can be a wonderful treat on social excursions. Sure, nearly everybody has a camera phone, and these devices are producing better photo images with each passing year. But there are still some things that a camera phone can't do. As popular as it is to hold a camera at arm's length, these images are still not quite an effective substitute for the quirky and convenient photo series produced by the iconic photo kiosk.

Transferable Images and Digital Management

The latest photo kiosk software plugs the traditional photo booth into the Web. In addition to photo prints, you can now transfer the pictures you take to Web outlets including social networking sites. Or vice versa: You can download pictures from your social networking site and print them through the photo kiosk. You can also now digitally edit your photos before printing or downloading them to the Web.

And your pre-existing photos don't have to be published on the Web to be transferred to the photo kiosk for editing and printing. This can be done through almost any digital media storage device, including flash drives, memory sticks, digital camera memory cards, CDs, and others. You can even use a Bluetooth device to transfer the image wirelessly.

With a photo kiosk in the lobby, gift shop, information center, or retail store, you no longer have to wait till you get home from your vacation to show your friends and family pictures of yourself dangling from the pier, laying out on the beach, or hiking in the mountains. And while nearly everyone has a camera phone, not everybody has or can afford an expensive data plans that are needed for smart phones. But even for people with smart phones, convenient photo editing features will ensure your amateur photos nevertheless capture the moment.

Photo Kiosk Software Firms

It's no surprise that Kodak is leading the charge in new photo kiosk software. They recently marketed their new social networking and photo kiosk software features. But independent photo kiosk vendors are surely not far behind. Digital kiosk software firms no the photo booth kiosk is a huge piece of their market. Some have even begun to develop kiosk software products that will bring these new online and digital photo management capabilities to independent photo kiosk vendors.

The traditional photo booth with its strip of five rapid-fire pictures may be a fading cultural trend given the ubiquity of camera phones, but photo kiosks themselves are not going anywhere. Once the industry marketing and advertising catches up and educates the average consumer on the wide-ranging capabilities of these new photo kiosk features, they may yet experience a resurgence, especially at select locations.