Hot Digital Signage Trends for 2013

It's a new year and with trade show season about to begin,  it's time for my 2013 predictions!

Android

You can expect to see a lot of vendors launching Android based solutions at upcoming trade shows.  The trend began last year with Capital Networks, Mediasignage and signagelive releasing their first Android products and we can expect this category to grow as more established software vendors jump on the bandwagon.  What's behind all this activity?  Cheaper hardware.

2012 saw many tablet hardware manufacturers introduce small "streaming media" devices that were based on Android tablet hardware. They simply repackaged tablet hardware components into a very small form factor minus the screen (some look like big USB memory sticks and others more like a ROKU or Apple TV device).

Since these devices were optimized for media playback (mainly audio, video and HTML), they grabbed the attention of software vendors who are always looking for small, reliable and inexpensive hardware to run their products on.

Will this trend take hold?  You bet!  There is a lot of work being done behind the scenes to deliver highly reliable and more affordable digital signage solutions.  Some vendors will be conservative and limit the types of media they support while others will enhance their offerings with template and multi-zone capabilities, Flash SWF support and other useful features.    Expect pricing to vary depending on the feature set and support level.

One thing we can be sure... Android is poised to take a lot of market share away from traditional PC hardware.

Ultra-Small PCs

Last year, Intel released a new reference for ultra-small PCs built around their Core i3 and i5 processors.  They called it "Next Unit of Computing" and it was presented more as a proof of concept than a commercial product.  This changed by the end of the year with many Intel partners releasing new hardware based on the new platform.

The reason is simple... With Android gaining steam, there is a race to cram ever more processing power into smaller (and cheaper) packages.  These new ultra-small PCs are Intel's response to the Android threat.  Problem is  these Intel PCs cannot compete on price because when you factor the cost of a Windows licence (even in Embedded version) Android simply comes out on top.

In order to compete, Intel's products must perform at a higher level (full HD), they must support more media formats and offer a more compelling solution than an Android based solution.

Then there is the Raspberry Pi.  This is a super affordable ARM based hardware platform that was initially developed for hobbyists and students.  It is pared down to the bone and all of its components fit on a board the size of a credit card.  The platform runs on a version of Linux Debian (called Raspbian) so it's closer to Android than a traditional PC and there is at least one digital signage software developer who has started to develop a solution for this platform.  The open source product is called Screenly and a commercial version is currently in beta.  

If digital signage software vendors start developing Android and Raspberry Pi based solutions that can compete directly with PCs, we could see a vastly different hardware landscape by the end of the year.

Due to the extra cost and complexity, traditional PC hardware will be relegated to deployments that need the additional processing power and storage capacity that only an Intel or AMD based PC can provide.

Don't expect Android and other hardware manufacturers to sit still either. Their core business will continue to be the retail consumer so they must continue to innovate as more broadcast TV viewers migrate to content on demand from the cloud.

Interesting times ahead for everyone!

HTML5

There was a lot of buzz  about HTML5 in 2012 and we're going to hear more about it this year as well.  Some predicted HTML5 would take over from Adobe Flash and become the new animation standard for digital signage and it didn't happen. There are many reasons for this...

First, it was a bit premature since the HTML5 standard is still in evolving and we won't see the final standard for quite some time.  This means some features aren't fully developed, others aren't fully supported by software vendors and may not be for a while.

It should also me known there are many Flash capabilities that have no direct counterpart in HTML5 and what makes HTML5 great for delivering righ web content to someone's web browsers, may not work as well in a 24/7, 365 playback environment.  While it's true that poorly written Flash ActionScript code can create memory leak issues that can affect a PCs performance over time, the same can be said about HTML5s well documented memory management issues (Google "HTML5 memory leak" and see...).

So as things stand, HTML5 occupies a small niche in the digital signage market.  At least on the media playback side.  There are a few HTML5 compatible hardware devices such as the Iadea players that have garnered a following.  These devices are supported by major software vendors and perform quite well but they can't compete with a full featured PC based solution.

I see HTML5 as having a much greater impact on the content management and scheduling side.  HTML5 is an ideal solution to deliver a digital signage management interface to a wide range of devices, much like Silverlight is used to deliver rich user interfaces to PCs.  HTML5 can be used across PCs, Macs, Android and iOS devices without having to rewrite any code and that's a big advantage over dedicated software applications.

The premise of HTML5 was "author once, play anywhere", but we're not there yet.  This should change once the standard is finalized in a year or two. Until then HTML5 will continue to be a technology better suited to simple content applications.

Interactive Applications

With it's "live tiles", Windows 8 was to introduce millions to the touch user interface.  It did but the jury is still out on what impact this will have as the launch didn't deliver the sales figures Microsoft was expecting.

Having said that, touch interfaces are becoming more common simply due to the number of touch enabled  tablets and smartphones that are out in the field.  If the trend continues (and it will), our grand kids will never encounter PCs that aren't at least touch or voice enabled.

We're all becoming used to poking and swiping on our screens so we're hearing more and more about touch enabled digital signage and kiosk deployments.  Currently, touch, motion and other non-keyboard based interaction has been mostly relegated to highly specialized applications such as special events and non-traditional (or "viral") ad campaigns.

In many cases we're talking about immersive experiences that require large screens, projectors, sensors and custom enclosures, but this can also be an interactive table display or wayfinding kiosk in a public space.

The reason we haven't seen more interactive applications yet is due to the costs associated with its deployment.  There is the cost of installing and calibrating the hardware, the cost of creating the content specifically for interaction and the cost of delivering the material using non-traditional means.

The good news is these costs are coming down as more touch enabled hardware enter the market with new software platforms that simplify the process of "touch-enabling" your content.

Be happy! Soon we'll all be winking, waving and gesturing in front of a screen just to find out where to find the closest coffee shop.

*Cartoon from http://www.gaspirtz.com/