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by William Van Winkle |
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Case in Point: Friendlyway Founded in 1998, friendlyway (www.friendlywayinc.com) is one of the U.S.'s largest interactive kiosk resellers and presently has display systems posted in over 100 of the Fortune 1000. Company CEO Alexander von Welczeck notes seeing a convergence going on between self-service kiosks and digital signage. The company has a couple of products that address this, most notably the welcome and impress systems, which have larger displays. The impress, for example, comes with displays of up to 40 inches currently.
Another crossover trend von Welczeck sees developing is the use of "topper" or "slave" displays. The best example of this, again, is the impress system, which embeds a large, portrait-oriented touchscreen at roughly chest level, then another non-touch display above it more or less higher than eye level. Such topper screens currently run up to 32 inches and are meant to display signage content while the primary screen acts as a welcome or registration interface. As you might expect, kiosk implementations are no less tricky than "regular" signage deployments. You still have screens built into custom cabinetry wired to PCs that get fed narrowcast content. The big difference is that kiosks usually have touchscreens and more interactive software.
"Our software has three parts," says von Welczeck, "and we had to design it in-house at our European sister location. The first part is the Secure Browser, which allows for front-end lock-down on interactive devices. Secondly, there's the Composer environment, which is a desktop creation tool that helps one rapidly create digital signage for self-service applications. And the third is called the Client Manager, which allows you to set up networks of systems and manage them and narrowcast to them. Plus there are some reporting features." Interestingly, the Wi-Fi Alliance sees kiosks as one of the fastest-growing segments in the wireless services sector. This works two ways, since not only does Wi-Fi eliminate the headache of cabling back to a PC for narrowcast data but it can also serve as an access point for customers. With 802.11n and possibly upgradeable "draft-N" gear coming out soon, this would be a great chance to upgrade clients' wireless networks while also addressing kiosk and signage needs.
Friendlyway only installs LCD screens, which is common throughout the kiosk and signage world. Even in environments in which video is played continuously, thus allaying any burn-in worries with plasma, LCD is about 2.5X more power-efficient than plasma, which is no small concern for large devices designed to run from 12 to 24 hours per day. (Also consider that a 24 x 7 device is likely to need upsells such as uninterruptible power supplies and possibly fail-over PCs.) On the other hand, plasma still has a lower cost of entry in larger screen sizes, which helps explain the 56% jump in commercial plasma shipments alluded to earlier. Additionally, Friendlyway derives a sizable chunk of its revenue from kiosk rentals as well as professional services including program planning, user training, regulatory compliance consulting, and focus group studies. Smaller resellers may need to do some homework to find providers for such value-adds, but being able to offer these items to signage customers can make the difference between a decent one-time sale and a lucrative, ongoing revenue stream. Ultimately, the biggest persuader in the kiosk business is ROI. Kiosks excel at reducing unnecessary expenses, whether that entails staffing humans at an information desk or having to keep printing pamphlets over and over for lobby handouts. Naturally, kiosks can never replace an informed, creative, helpful employee, but they can definitely assist in streamlining and optimizing a company's human resources. "Go to technologyport.com," says von Welczeck. "We recently enabled them for a self-service kiosk and digital signage program for the state of Pennsylvania. These systems are essential virtual visitor centers. So in liu of having two or three physical centers throughout Pennsylvania, in the future they'll have more than 40 via interactive transactional kiosk systems that actually combine digital signage, as well. They each have a 32-inch topper screen that allows for information, advertising—content that supports the virtual visitor center." Tapping Into Touchscreens Kiosks segue nicely into touchscreens, our second hot niche in the display market. If you've been to a restaurant recently, you've probably seen touchscreens in action. In fact, hardly any POS systems are now in development that don't use touchscreen technology. Most new ATM machines are touch-based. Street of Dreams-style houses are rife with touchscreens for home automation. Many podiums in lecture halls now integrate touch monitors for controlling presentations. This author's dentist installed a touchscreen system in every patient area as a more efficient way for workers to access patient data while wearing gloves and/or holding instruments. The touch market is everywhere now. Data from Planar Systems (www.planar.com), an Oregon-based LCD monitor and touchscreen manufacturer, notes that the 2003 market for touchscreens in the U.S. was $265 million, but annual growth for 2005 and beyond was projected at 30% in the retail segment alone, which accounts for only 40% of the overall touchscreen market. (Surprisingly, gaming comes in second at 25% market share. Historically, touch in gaming has meant casino machines and the like, but don't forget that the Nintendo DS is touch-based, too. You're not likely to see much revenue from gaming handhelds, but you may yet get a piece of that market in the form of smart convergence devices.) According to Bill Nulf, director of channel sales for touchscreen industry leader Elo TouchSystems, channel business for Elo has more than doubled in the past three years, and that's only with selling through four specialty distributors, ICG (www.icg.com) being chief among them. Many touchscreens have specially modified enclosures that help them to be spill-proof, and you can probably think of several applications off the top of your head (from kitchens to manufacturing lines) wherein liquid resistance would be desirable. Then you have the additional cost of the touch technologies—different metals, transceiver parts, and so on—and suddenly it makes more sense why touchscreens cost significantly more than their regular LCD counterparts. Whereas a conventional 17" LCD monitor might cost well under $200, expect 15" to 17" touchscreens to run anywhere in the $400 to $800 range, with the lower end usually employing resistive technology. As opposed to digital signage, though, price is much less of an entry barrier. It's easier to demonstrate ROI from increased transactions rather than ambiguous increases in revenue from advertising. As such, touch is quickly becoming (or perhaps has already become) the operator input of choice in retail, fine dining, and fast food, which are all particularly focused on checkout transaction speeds. You may not have the ability to penetrate touch systems into major restaurant chains (they'll likely running such systems already), but local-level chains are still prime candidates. "For touch applications, the big verticals are still POS, hospitality, and retail," says Elo's Bill Nulf. "After that now is probably medical—portable pharmacies, check-in counters, things like that where you combine lots of people standing with a need for screens that are quick and easy to clean. Number three, gaming is getting really big, too—casino gambling, slot machines, bingo, that kind of stuff. We're also seeing uptake in process controls, fabs and manufacturing. Texas Instruments, for example, used to have stuff hanging off their machines. Now, they just do it all with our touchscreens. Airline control—not necessarily in the cockpit, but cabin control for turning all the movies on, lights, stuff like that is now driven by touch. And home use even—people hooking it up and driving their security, lights, stereo, etc.—is getting really big."
Dell caused some waves relatively recently by entering the touch market with a single resistive technology 15" SKU priced under $500. (Most name brand 15" touchscreens start with a street price around $550.) On some occasions, Dell's part even hit as low as $350. Elo's Nulf notes that this admittedly decent quality unit stole some market share in the beginning, but the end result was that the low entry point served to increase awareness of and interest in touchscreens sufficiently to lift the entire market, thus boosting business for everyone, particularly in the 5- to 10-user account segment. The kicker with touchscreens, of course, is application software. You can't very well walk into a business, push for a touchscreen sale, and then not offer the customer an application to make use of the hardware. When we started looking at the touch industry in 2002, resellers were usually forced to partner with ISVs in order to tailor unique solutions for each customer. Thankfully, the rise in the touch market has spawned considerable vendor interest in off-the-shelf solutions. "There is always enough software now," says Nulf. "There are so many ISVs out there, it's just not a problem. I mean, if you want to do a pizza place, go to the Web, and you'll probably find your choice of ten reputable software packages. Maybe they'll need a little customization, maybe not. At the low-end of the business, some older systems can be converted to touch just by installing new hardware." System builders will likely be inclined to purchase touchscreens and tie them to their own small boxes. Small businesses in particular may prefer this route because of the potential cost savings. However, businesses wanting to project more of a sleek image may want to dispense with the cabinetry or visible cable clutter associated with separate PCs and touchscreens and instead opt for an all-in-one "monoputer" or "touchcomputer" such as Elo's 1529L. The 1529L is based on a 15" touchscreen, fanless 1 GHz VIA Eden CPU, 512MB of RAM, and Windows CE, 2000, XP Embedded, or XP Professional. Options include an integrated magnetic strip reader and a rear-facing vacuum flourescent or LCD display for customers. A PCMCIA slot provides for wireless connectivity in addition to the integrated 10/100 port. Resistive, infrared, and surface wave touch technologies are available. End-user pricing generally starts around $1,500, so you can see that system builders do have the ability to provide a strong supporting PC, even in a Mini-ITX form factor, plus 15" touchscreen for well under that price level. That said, Nulf notes that all-in-one sales are showing marked acceleration as of late. The compact design and numerous mounting options of well-crafted touchcomputers carry their own inherent value. The Elo 1000 Series in particular allows for considerable flexibility for customers who may need to upgrade to full functionality in stages. The model can be sold without the integrated computer, and even touch capabilities can be stripped out and added later via screen attachments and a discrete controller. "Resellers just need to start by asking the touch question," says Nulf. "Are they calling on any small ma-and-pa restaurants or hospitality-type customers? That's the easiest entry. Then secondly, if they're doing any supplying into hospitals or the medical field, that's another way to step in easily. If you're supplying a dentist's office, dentists now use touch for check-in or going through patient records, etc. Obviously, a reseller isn't going to bag Costco. That kind of thing goes through an IBM or NCR. But there's plenty of regional business, and I can see that in ICG's numbers. Resellers are starting to come onboard with touch technology." As you consider your customer base or even wander through your everyday life, look for places where lines of people appear. Would kiosks or self-checkout machines help? Anyplace where mouse usage is awkward, there's a touch technology opportunity because touch will enable better business flow and higher customer satisfaction. And there are plenty of more creative applications, such as using touch systems to conduct surveys a la TouchPoll's solutions (www.touchpoll.com). Of our three niches, touchscreen sales is the most mature, but the opportunity among small businesses is still in its early stages. Now that panel and system pricing has dropped so far in the last couple of years, companies that might have been hands-off about touch in the past should now be more receptive. ...more |
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