Chasing the Power Curve » advertising http://blog.herlein.com - the musings of Greg Herlein Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:16:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc en hourly 1 Apple Has Gone Too Far http://blog.herlein.com/2010/02/apple-has-gone-too-far/ http://blog.herlein.com/2010/02/apple-has-gone-too-far/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:51:40 +0000 gherlein http://blog.herlein.com/?p=200 I read tonight that Apple has announced in it’s developer forum that any application submitted that uses location services ‘primarily’ for the purpose of serving ads to the user will be rejected from the App store. If this is true, they have simply gone too far.

Now Apple is making rules about what kinds of software [...]]]> I read tonight that Apple has announced in it’s developer forum that any application submitted that uses location services ‘primarily’ for the purpose of serving ads to the user will be rejected from the App store. If this is true, they have simply gone too far.

Now Apple is making rules about what kinds of software can be installed on the users device.  That the user paid for.  That the user owns.  It’s their device.  If a user finds value in an application that serves them ads, great.  If they hate it they can delete it. After all, it’s their own device.  Right?

But no, Apple seems to think that they know better.  How can it be OK for the computer provider (because today’s phones really are just hand held computers) to make this kind of arbitrary rule?  Oh, wait… Apple recently bought Quattro Wireless, a company specializing in mobile ads…  so the prediction of evil is coming true.   Any really lucrative market for iPhone apps risks them suddenly changing the rules to make sure that Apple is the only vendor that can serve that market.  All those crappy little markets – sure, let the suckers independent iPhone developers scratch a living there.  If it’s got a lot of zeros in it, well, then Apple wants that market.  And they can take it, lock stock and barrel by just rejecting any competing application out of hand.  Apple becomes ready to take over mobile advertising and bang – one policy change and they suddenly own the market.  Neat trick, eh?

Just ask yourself:  if Microsoft did this kind of thing, what would your emotional reaction be?  I bet you’d be outraged.  Why is it that that Apple gets a free pass on this?  Because they make ‘cool’ products?  Is that enough?  Not for me.

Am I the only one that smells monopolistic abuse of power?  Am I the only one that thinks that this borders (or crosses into) behavior that is evil, if not illegal?  Simply put, I think Apple has gone too far.

What do you think?

]]> http://blog.herlein.com/2010/02/apple-has-gone-too-far/feed/ 2 Three Panel Layout for Digital Signage – Alive Yet Evolving http://blog.herlein.com/2009/12/three-panel-layout-for-digital-signage-alive-yet-evolving/ http://blog.herlein.com/2009/12/three-panel-layout-for-digital-signage-alive-yet-evolving/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:26:06 +0000 gherlein http://blog.herlein.com/?p=163 Nate Nead has a new post Five Reasons Why the 3-Panel Digital Signage Content Template is Dying.  I agree with some of his points but not with the premise.  It’s very interesting to see the creative and unusual formats of screens popping up all over the place.  I like this innovation, and I think it’s [...]]]> Nate Nead has a new post Five Reasons Why the 3-Panel Digital Signage Content Template is Dying.  I agree with some of his points but not with the premise.  It’s very interesting to see the creative and unusual formats of screens popping up all over the place.  I like this innovation, and I think it’s good for our industry.  But Digital Signage is in it’s infancy.  Frankly, anyone who tells you that they completely understand what works and what does not work in signage is probably selling you something.  There’s a substantial amount of learnings however.  The creative staff at PRN for example, have been doing retail signage for what, 15 years?  I’m constantly impressed by their awareness and understanding of how to design a proposition so that it’s effective and attractive.  But there’s always more to learn, and there’s more to signage than the retail advertising arena.  Much of the innovative display work I’ve seen recently has not been in a ‘traditional’ retail digital signage environment.  And that’s a big deal.

Some signage is about catching the eye as you drive or walk past.  But one way to increase the advertising component is to place your screens where you have natural DWELL TIME.   If you can catch the viewer in an environment where they are stuck for a few minutes and you can offer a compelling and interesting thing to watch then you have video real estate you can sell.   And for those scenarios a three panel layout works well.   The viewers are used to it.  In fact, they are probably used to getting useful information from those side panels.    Those applications are about monetizing the signage efforts as well as providing a nicer customer experience.  Fancy displays (circular, tiled, whatever) may attract more interest initially, but they cost more than the commodity 16:9 displays that are commonly used now.  Increasing costs without a sustainable increase in revenue detracts from the ROI.  If you’re in it for the long haul then you ignore that at your own peril.

That said, there’s so many other opportunities for signage.  And many of those are special to the location or venue.  I would agree with Nate that in many of those cases novel formats are needed.  A traditional three panel display format in those venues looks silly – like the operator is stuck back in the 90s and isn’t with it yet.  The latest innovations in signage are great for our industry and I love to see them.   But I think that as our industry grows up we will start to see a growing awareness of market segmentation and categories of signage.  And what works perfectly well in one won’t work at all in another.  I look forward to the learning process.

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