Skip to main content

KFC Tray Typer keyboard is finger clickin’ good

Via Gute Werbung and Design Taxi

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

It's a first world solution to a first world problem: a super-thin, rechargeable Bluetooth keyboard that arrives with your tray of fast food, connects to your smartphone, and lets you text with sticky fingers without messing up your screen. The KFC Tray Typer — part of an advertising campaign for the fast food chain in Germany — is a high-tech replacement for the usual grease-absorbing paper slip that's served up on fast food trays. Presumably, it's durable enough to get wiped down and re-used — although the advert's creator, Serviceplan, claims the smart paper trays were so popular when handed out during the opening week of new restaurants that "every single one ... was taken home."The Tray Typer may sound far-fetched, but technologically it's cutting edge — not science fiction. In 2013, a UK-based electronics company named CSR showed off a Bluetooth keyboard that was just as thin and flexible as the Tray Typer. It wouldn't be the craziest electronic peripheral the fast food chain has come up with either: last year in Japan, KFC launched a keyboard, mouse, and USB stick combo — all in the shape of pieces of fried chicken. Actually creating a product as useful as the Tray Typer — even if it's just part of an advertising campaign — looks pretty sane by comparison.

1/4


Verge Video: The best keyboard for Android and iPhone