Friday 8 April 2011

A dominant theme at the Screenmedia expo next month is likely to be the integration of screens with smartphones and other mobile devices

http://www.stjohnpatrick.com/openx/www/images/2ab9a853ebb37620f41d75b9d9211684.jpg

http://screenevents.co.uk/screenexpo2011/

One of the most striking things about this year’s Screenmedia Expo is the presence, on the sponsor list and the exhibitor roster, of four very heavyweight tech companies which you might not immediately associate with this market: AMD, Cisco, HP, and Intel.

They all come to digital out-of-home with slightly different motives and are interested in different slices of the market – Intel, for example, is anticipating its silicon playing a role in embedded audience-recognition systems, while HP is looking to be more of a full- service provider for smaller users. But their presence is an eloquent testament to the seriousness with which the broader worlds of media and technology are now taking DOOH.

So it’s also interesting to see in our lead story this week that Cisco – whose DOOH deployments to date have been largely in North America – is also now a player in the slowly-but-surely-developing African market as well, through a Nigerian partner.

Another dominant theme at the Expo next month is likely to be the integration of screens with smartphones and other mobile devices, so our story on the appalling experience still being delivered to too many consumers by m-commerce operations couldn’t come at a more appropriate time. Here’s a chance for the DOOH sector to take a lead and show how the transactions of the future, mixing mobile technology with place-based media, really ought to be handled.

There’s a lot more news this week, too, so be sure to check the site at Screenmediamag.com regularly for updates.

Barnaby Page
editor, Screenmediamag.com

No comments: