Sharp re-announces new signage software … I think

Perhaps borrowing from the wily ways of politicians, who love to re-announce funding for projects, Sharp has re-announced it is in the digital signage software game.

Loyal readers with gaping holes in their social lives may recall a post a few months ago about Sharp’s Japanese offices announcing e-Signage, a DS offer bundled with their panels.

Now there is word this week of the sexy-named PN-SS01 digital signage software and optional PN-SV01 viewer software.

Sharp marketing should get a nice plaque and free danishes for coming up with those handles.

Anyway, the story from Pro-AV Online:

In what the company says is a response to an increasing need for fast and efficient information display management, Sharp introduced a digital signage software package that includes the PN-SS01 digital signage software and optional PN-SV01 viewer software. The PN-SS01 software enables content to be programmed while the complementary PN-SV01 software accepts programming from the PN-SS01 on a USB flash drive for remote playback on additional PCs and Sharp’s PN series of LCD monitors.

Compatible with a variety of media sources, PN-SS01 software can program digital posters, billboards, full-motion video information, animation, and real-time news and weather reports. It allows content to be displayed on a single screen, but the PN-SV01 software adds the ability to display different content at different times to different audiences.

Sony was probably the first major panel company to have software and player, and Samsung bundles basic software with its panels, if you want it. I suspect others do, as well. There’s not much margin at all in panels, these days, so if you can’t compete on low price having software you can toss  in might seal the deal.

The Sharp manual is 98 pages and looks fairly beefy (the install section is 10 pages), so it appears there’s a little meat to code.

Another free software offer enters the fray

From the somewhat unlikely locale of Puerto Rico (if I lived there I would not be hunched over indoors writing code for a living), comes another company taking the “freeconomics” approach to DS software.

According to a press release sent to me:

SAN JUAN, PR-March 31, 2008 – s3mer inc. announced today the beginning of beta testing of its digital signage software solution. The testing will be conducted in dozens of selected retail locations, and it will grow rapidly to hundreds in the following weeks.

Some of the features that will be available in the beta tests are: Mac OS X and Windows versions, live video, multiple shows with one player, podcast support and rss support.

Customers interested in participating in the second round of beta testing should visit www.s3mer.com and provide an email address in order to be contacted when the second round of testing begins.

The private beta testing will continue until April 21, 2008 when the public beta is expected to begin.

s3mer inc. aims to provide free digital signage software for small businesses that’s powerful and easy to use. The platform is based on open and widely available technologies.

The offer seems to be growing out of another company in San Juan, but it is not clear whether this is a spin-off or a staffer setting off on his own.

The web page is pretty much just a splash page for now, but it does make the rather provocative statement that this code is “Digital signage for humans.”

Which just confirms my thinking that I’ve been hanging out, for years, in this industry with a buncha monkeys.

My s3mer contact says they plan to make their money by upselling to  premium services, a model similar to that of Infosigns (another freebie player).

I was thinking they should look at doing the user experience in Spanish – as almost every other software package out there, free or not, is delivered in English. And usually English only.

Turns out they have it in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Very clever.

One other note … how the hell does one say that company name???