Some recent news from Global Display Solutions and NextWindow
suggests that there are good things in store for interactive kiosk and
digital media network owners. The first bit of news is actually
from a joint press release
between these two companies about fitting GDS displays with NextWindow
touch screen overlays. NextWindow, whom I've mentioned before (in
Digital Retailing, Digital Merchandising, Visual Retailing, or Something Else?, and Alternatives to traditional kiosk and digital signage displays)
makes touch screen overlays for large screens like plasmas and LCD
monitors, and also a through-glass technology that lets you turn any
flat, clear surface (think store windows) into touch panels.
Bringing their technology to a global supplier like GDS means that we
should be seeing more large screen touch screen displays soon.
And
with all of these large, touchable screens out there, it would be nice
to know how they're functioning, since a $3,000-$5,000 touch screen
isn't really doing anything for your business if it's shut off.
That's where this next GDS press release
comes in, noting that they are now offering a module for all of their
screens that will allow for remote diagnostics and
troubleshooting. A number of plasma and LCD makers already
include support for remote control via RS-232 (and in fact, our FireCast kiosk and digital sign software
has the ability to remotely control this), however the command sets
vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, and even from model to model,
so adding support for the latest screens can mean custom
engineering. Hopefully the standardized approach that GDS appears
to be taking will catch on with other manufacturers, and we look
forward to adding support for their controllers into FireCast.
So
with large display touch screens becoming more common, one must ask
where to draw the line between digital sign and interactive
kiosk. Obviously an interactive kiosk
must be interactive, however, if you're interacting with a 42" plasma
screen on a stand, is it still a kiosk? I think it is. And
isn't that plasma also a digital sign,
especially when it's not in use and just cycling through content in an
attract mode? Yes, I think so too. I've written about the convergence of kiosks and digital signs
before, and the trend definitely seems to be gaining strength.
With greater product availability and lower prices, it's easier to get
that "wow" factor than ever before. Whether it will get customers
talking, using, and most importantly, buying, is still unclear.
However, by combining the best elements of digital signage and
self-service kiosks (both of which seem to work well in the majority of
environments), I'm optimistic about it.