Joined: 1/16/2009
Posts: 1
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Is anybody getting the sense that the industry is too focused on the 40" + LCD display as a device, while the big part of the surfacing iceberg is smaller form factor (7-21") for shelf level, service counter, recption desk display? Any notion of the display volume and applications that could applicable.?
Lyle Bunn
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Joined: 2/9/2009
Posts: 2
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Lyle,
I couldn't agree with you more. There are tremendous opportunities across numerous verticals for small form factor displays. Given the spread of wi-fi, wireless broadband, and digital content management capabilites within digital pitcture frame like devices, these shelf displays can offer equivalent functionality, and, ultimately, greater flexibility than a large flat-panel digital signage solution.
As you stated in a recent article, "CES Through a Digital Signage Lens, " with the advent of content loading and playlist management, digital picture frames are likly to experience explosive growth in the commercial market. This type of easy-to-deploy, low-cost digital signage could be a boon for small businesses looking to take advantage of the targeting power and flexibility of our medium.
A great example of a start-up company looking to capitailze on the growth opportunities in the small form factor digital signage market is DisplayPoints, Inc. The two-year-old company has developed a digital display box that sits on restaurant tables, where it flashes dining information, such as daily specials, as well as advertising.
The company's digital signage solution is a high-tech table placard, about the size of a hard cover book, with an LCD touch-screen and wireless connectivity. It's a great example of a small form factor device that offers greater potential sales lift and engagement than a 42" digital screen hanging in a restaurant's lobby.
This is just one example of how small form factor digital signage can be utilized. There are, of course, many other markets ripe for this type of solution. I imagine we'll be seeing much more of these kinds of deployments for years to come.
David Weinfeld
Digital Siginage Insights, http://dsinsights.blogspot.com
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Joined: 2/3/2009
Posts: 2
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The biggest impediment to widespread shelf-based digital signage is the power cabling. More often than not, the shelves do not have a nearby source of power and installation can be cumbersome and expensive.
A good example of a retailer using lots small shelf-oriented displays is the NBC Experience Store at Rockefeller Plaza.
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Joined: 2/21/2009
Posts: 1
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Surely you jest? You don't have a drill and a power cord? Seriously, every counter-top in America's retail and hospitality establishments appear to be powered and even exceeding what is generally considered to be ridiculous with transformers plugged into power strips extensions which are themselves plugged into another power strip extension ad infinitum.
The greening of America has brought another opportunity to make a few bucks cleaning the mess up and providing some basic power control and management and carbn credits or demerits which will politically follow is an issue we should all try to stay a step or two ahead of.
That said and back to topic, the small form factor power problems I experience are not at the counter-tops but on the walls and columns where we want to mount photo frames and other displays.
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Joined: 2/3/2009
Posts: 2
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You mentioned countertops, which are powered of course. However, in a typical good-sized store, you won't find a power outlet in the middle of Aisle 14, and you have to pay a licensed electrician good money to bring his drill and power cords. Since the aisles generally have no connection to a wall or ceiling and the floors are concrete slabs, the process can be very labor intensive.
Now imagine the labor costs of paying electricians to install a power outlet every four feet across several hundred feet of shelving and you can begin to see what I mean.
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