Digital kiosks installed in San Francisco International Airport’s newest terminal not only feature touch screens, but are also integrated with a series of sensors and source systems that affect the wayfinding suggestions they offer.
Mobile
Mobile technology has certainly come a long way in recent years. Gone are the brick-sized cellphones of the past. Today, the vast majority of people in developed countries carry smartphones with them at all times.
As such, mobile devices are seen as an increasingly ideal way to connect the public to interactive, engaging digital signage content. The key is to integrate technologies like NFC or Apple’s iBeacon.
NFC itself is not new technology, but it is now seen as the next horizon for mobile devices because it allows them to serve as digital wallets. Indeed, many industry insiders believe NFC will be key to the advent of digital wallets because of (a) its ease of integration with existing systems, (b) its ease of adoption for consumers and (c) its usefulness in audience tracking and analytics. In these senses, it certainly has advantages over the once-ubiquitous Quick Response (QR) code.
Within the next few years, a large number of consumers are expected to own NFC-enabled smartphones, as the functionality continues to be added to handsets by major players in the mobile device manufacturing industry. As a result, in-store NFC-based payments will experience wider reach and adoption in the near future.
The real opportunity, however, could be with unattended point-of-sale (POS) systems, as found with vending machines, parking lots and transit stations and vehicles. Here, consumers will appreciate the convenience of paying by smartphone no matter their location. This two-way exchange of information, which can be integrated with related digital signage, will represent a new type of customer experience.
Apple’s recently launched iBeacon, on the other hand, is like a Global Positioning System (GPS) for indoor locations. If a mobile phone is so enabled, it can pick up related transmissions, such as apps or coupons, based on the user’s location.
While NFC is an established industry standard for contactless payments, it will be more difficult for Apple’s iBeacon technology to dominate the market. Not all smartphones are Apple iPhones, after all.
Screens
The types of screens suitable for digital signage applications continue to evolve, as do the applications for existing screens. There is no end to the options and possibilities, though there are certainly practical considerations that make some new concepts more useful and popular than others.
4K
Today, 4K UHD technology is in a transition phase. The current prices of 4K-capable screens are still quite high. In addition to the cost, it can be difficult to generate or source 4K content, let alone to store, render and transmit the much larger files.
Like any technology, of course, the prices of the displays will come down. Within the next few years, there will be a tipping point and 4K will become mainstream. Just as high-definition (HD) replaced standard-definition (SD), so too will UHD replace HD.
In the meantime, however, organizations are buying and installing screens at a higher resolution than their content. Even 4K sports broadcasts are displayed in HD for lack of sufficient bandwidth.
Many organizations install screens capable of higher resolutions than the content they actually present.
3-D
Three-dimensional (3-D) content is still lacking for consumer TVs, let alone digital signage. In an example of a perpetual Catch-22, content providers will not develop 3-D images if demand is too low and digital signage networks will not integrate 3-D screens without 3-D content.
Due to both impracticality and high prices, 3-D really does not stand a chance in the digital signage industry. The public is not going to wear special glasses and, for that matter, even the appeal of ‘glasses-free’ 3-D is starting to fade.
AR
To some degree, AR is being used to bridge the gap between large displays and mobile devices. The attempt is innovative, but AR is still a new technology looking for a home in the digital signage market.
Not only does the computer-generated imagery (CGI) need to appear super-realistic to have an authentic impression on its audience in public, but AR is also a niche application that requires a strong understanding of its interface. It is unlikely to enjoy wide adoption by the digital signage industry.
