"Vending machines are a favorite example among those peddling the m-commerce concept. Rather than stand in front of a soda machine fishing for a dollar bill that is neither too faded nor too wrinkled, you may someday simply dial the phone number posted on the machine.

The vending machine will be equipped either with the radio portion of a cell phone so that it can receive the call, or with a transceiver that works using Bluetooth, a wireless connection that allows high-speed communication among devices within a short distance of one another.

The machine will then offer you a menu. You'll choose, say, a Diet Pepsi for 75 cents and enter a PIN (or the machine will recognize your telephone automatically), and out will tumble your soft drink."
—Katie Hafner, "Will That Be Cash or Cell Phone?", The New York Times, March 2, 2000