signage

Apple updates online store to match retail stores

Apple this morning briefly took down its online store to make changes to the way customers buy its devices, including a new selection process that's similar to what can be found in its retail stores.

The first change is for customers wanting to purchase iPads, a process Apple has streamlined into a new selector tool that splits up models by color, capacity, and whether there's built-in 3G networking. It's nearly identical to what Apple introduced in its retail stores with its Smart Sign program in March, the one that replaced paper signage with iPads. That system lets … Read more

Apple ratchets up its retail game (roundup)

At the start of its second decade as a brick-and-mortar retailer, Apple finds a new use for its iPads.

Apple updates its iOS retail app with in-store tools Tweaks to Apple's retail store application for iOS add new features for customers using it inside of Apple's retail stores. (Posted in Apple Talk by Josh Lowensohn) May 23, 2011 10:45 AM PDT

Grand Central Apple store rumor heats up again Apple has "expressed interest" in acquiring a particular spot inside New York's Grand Central Terminal to open up a new retail store, according to a … Read more

Wraparound plasma screen is one good turn

CHIBA, Japan--It turns out digital signs don't have to be flat.

Here at Ceatec, Fujitsu turned what looked like your standard building column into an interactive display by wrapping it with a plasma display and a motion-sensing camera.

The display itself is 1 centimeter thick and is available in much larger sizes--see the 200-inch one that's been installed at Japan's Kansai Airport.

The display uses cameras to sense a person's location and movements in reaction to elements on the screen. The camera on one side displays the person's interactions on both sides of the column, … Read more

Intel touts 'smart' digital signage

Intel's prototype design for interactive, holographic digital signage continues to make the rounds.

After debuting last week at the CES 2010 show during the keynote address by Intel CEO Paul Otellini, the 7.5-foot-tall multitouch, multiuser Intelligent Digital Signage Concept this week is being demonstrated at the National Retail Federation Convention in New York. In addition, Intel on Tuesday announced that it is working with Microsoft to develop an open-standards platform for digital signage applications.

On-location digital signs based on the technology could change the way consumers find and interact with information at stores, banks, and hotels, Intel said.

In effect, such signs would bring something of an online experience to the brick-and-mortar world. The Intel prototype is designed to let retail customers touch its holographic screen to virtually tour a store, shop for products, learn about sales, read customer reviews, submit their own reviews, and share feedback with family and friends through integration with social networks and cell phones.

Retail outlets could use the digital sign to show realistic maps of each aisle of the store, and then display coupons or sales promotions next to images of different products.

But the sign offers more than just one-way communications. Using built-in cameras and image analysis, the display could determine a consumer's gender, approximate age, the clothes he or she is wearing, the time of day, and other factors to tailor ads and other content specifically to that consumer. By figuring out a person's size, it could show ads only for clothes that would fit.

Of course, advertisers could also use the digital signage to get immediate feedback on how consumers respond to their ads. … Read more