There are still lots of people out there I have chatted with who are dismissive of the whole Android media player thing – most of them suggesting an evolving open source operating system and teeny, too cheap media playback devices from Shenzhen are way too dodgy a choice for all but the entry-level ma and pa market, where price and only price rules.
I disagree, and think this is the way things will largely go when you get below the big enterprise account level. And even the guys who address that market – like Stratacache – have or will very soon have Android product.
Will little media sticks run video walls? Yes, but no one’s going to invest $1,000 in displays and then insist on a $100 media player. A lot of the work out there – like menu boards – requires very, very little heavy media lifting. They just have to be reliable.
All that said, here’s some solid evidence it’s not budget-crazed small businesses turning to Android.
BroadSign has an order for 1,001 units from a client. The company announced and showed its product at DSE a few months ago and plans to soon start shipping. While some of the Android products I have seen released would leave me more than a little jumpy, I know BroadSign (worked for them in 2007-9) and know from direct conversation they have built software that isn’t compromised and custom-spec’d and manufactured a unit they totally trust.
Says a release today:
BroadSign Xpress was announced in February 2013 and is BroadSign’s first step into the digital signage hardware solutions market. The fully-featured and fully-supported smart player runs on the Android operating system and was created to both eliminate the challenge of selecting a good long-term hardware solution and reduce the cost of hardware per deployment.
Following the release of BroadSign Xpress, 200 participants across the globe were given a beta player as part of the BroadSign Trailblazer Program. Recipients tested the smart player throughout the duration of the program and BroadSign incorporated resulting feedback into its final product design.
“The response to the introduction of BroadSign Xpress has been tremendous from the moment it was revealed at our First Annual Client Summit,” said BroadSign’s CEO, Brian Dusho. “Positive feedback received via the Trailblazer Program and high demand from new and existing customers attest that this initiative is the right decision for BroadSign as a provider of digital signage solutions. Inventory is limited and players are moving quickly.”
I, ummm, have a Trailblazer unit on my messy desk back at the bait shop/world HQ, but given I have been away more than home lately, it hasn’t yet found its way out of the shipping box. Sorry guys.