Wake up!

Is anyone else [besides me] shocked that less than 20 percent of the DS market is being integrated by the ProAV channel?

Do you realize that digital signage is LITERALLY the fastest-growing segment of the AV market? And, to top that off, it's the largest segment of the "sell AV as a service" market outside of Rental. And, it's even more profitable than rental - not to mention the market's 25 times as large as the AV rental market.

What's going on here?

Why aren't we grabbing this market and running with it?

If you think it was tough getting old people in your company to adopt new technology, wait until you see how tough it will be for YOU to employ new talent.

Generation Y is entering the workforce and they grew up not just playing video games, but mastering them on the first try. They never knew a day without cell phones (and they are OK with the quality issues -- they don't complain nearly as much about it as you do) and they would rather communicate via email than in person.

You, on the other hand, think that personal contact is the best way to make and cultivate relationships, you would rather call and leave a voicemail than send an email. You feel that mentoring someone has to be in person. Right?
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In my recent writing and speaking, I have discussed the convergence of the HomeAV and ProAV markets and how close they are moving to mirror each other. Now, let’s take a look at the two major industry associations (and their tradeshows) and how they may evolve over the next few years.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, InfoComm is THE ProAV association leading industry education initiatives, managing an annual tradeshow for manufacturers to show off their wares and providing a community portal for the trade and the end users to connect to work on AV projects together.

CEDIA is the InfoComm of the HomeAV market. It started as a trade association to help high-end consumer electronics integrators differentiate themselves from the big-box retailers and a host of other industry issues. In addition, they launched a table-top show some twenty years ago that has morphed into a giant AV fair of home theater, home automation and whole house AV gear.

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You think the economy was bad for business, wait til you have to compete with Best Buy in the ProAV integration space.

That's right! Best Buy has officially launched themselves into commercial AV design and integration and is actively seeking employees who want to get on the ground floor of their new ProAV strategy.

Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself: http://www.bestbuy-jobs.com/search?q=Magnolia+Commercial

Below is a screenshot of the page, which is from Best Buy's Audio Video Jobs site, in case it changes or gets removed.
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A white box with a touch screen on the outside cover that lets heart patients make video calls with their clinicians may prove the basis for an emerging home health market. Yep, it’s true!

Aetna released preliminary results of a joint study with Intel showing chronic heart failure patients who use a remote health management system (with an in-home patient device, the Intel Health Guide PHS6000) avoided some hospital stays and increased their independence from hospitals. The service combines Intel’s PHS6000 with its online platform that allows clinicians to monitor patients and manage care remotely via videoconferencing. You can also connect other devices for blood pressure, weight, pulse and blood glucose levels. It records your past medical data.

A white box with a touch screen on the outside cover that lets heart patients make video calls with their clinicians may prove the basis for an emerging home health market. Yep, it’s true!

Aetna released preliminary results of a joint study with Intel showing chronic heart failure patients who use a remote health management system (with an in-home patient device, the Intel Health Guide PHS6000) avoided some hospital stays and increased their independence from hospitals. The service combines Intel’s PHS6000 with its online platform that allows clinicians to monitor patients and manage care remotely via videoconferencing. You can also connect other devices for blood pressure, weight, pulse and blood glucose levels. It records your past medical data.

One of the ProAV industry's first "national" dealers was MCSi. After buying up more than 20 AV dealerships including Technical Industries of Atlanta, Fairview AFX from Tulsa, OK and DuoCom based in Canada, MCSi racked up sales of $686 million and was even a high-flying with a Fortune Magazine 100-Fastest-Growing-Company ranking in 2000. They had more than 150 offices and 2000 or so employees. MCSi went public on NASDAQ in 2001 garnering over $100 million for the company.

But, according to federal prosecutors who convened in Cincinnati Federal Court Monday, Mike Peppel, then CEO of MCSi, allegedly committed at least 30 crimes including mail fraud, filing false reports with the government, money laundering, wire fraud and securities fraud. Peppel has pleaded not guilty to at least 32 of the charges. However, according to reports, former MCSi chief financial officer, Ira Stanley, who pleaded guilty in federal court back in 2007 to crimes related to the case, will testify in the trial against Peppel.

If you're a regular reader of rAVe, then you know that I despise Atlanta and think they did a terrible job hosting CEDIA in 2009 - although we did appreciate the city's warning, for those of us staying in downtown hotels, not to veer too far from the hotel's front door after 11 pm. Thanks.

But, one must say, EXPO 2009 was a hit as far as attendees were concerned.  With the economy still in a perilous condition, CEDIA managed to pull off one of the best shows they've ever had.

So, was I wrong about Atlanta?  Is it a better host (to encourage show participation and attendance) than I originally thought? Did people flock to the home of Gone with the Wind to tour the World of Coke museum and catch a Braves game in larger numbers than anyone expected?

Uh, no.

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We are about to witness the largest deployment of digital signage in history. 

That's right - the largest deployment of digital signage technology, ever. 

How big?

Well, well over 100 million (yes, million) people (translation: sets of eyeballs) will instantly be part of the world's largest digital signage network tomorrow (July 1st) when Apple launches iAd on the iPhone, iPod Touch and, one assumes, the iPad.

Apple has laid out its plan with iAd and it's pretty simple - advertisers can embed "interactive" ads inside Apps (I also assumes that eventually - although this hasn't been addressed directly by Apple, yet - ads could be embedded into other services that Apple includes on all iPhones (e.g., Mail, Text Messaging/MMS, Safari). However, these aren't just banner ads, the ads are interactive such that you can run the ad totally inside the App itself and when you finish the ad, go back to where you were in the App.  May not seem like a big deal, but one of the biggest complaints of banner ads is that they take you somewhere on a website that you may not want to go - thus, many people never click on them. Through iAd, Apple can track everything from how many times the ad was viewed, how long the user stayed on the ad, whether or not a purchase was made from inside the App (yes, you'll be able to purchase in an ad WHILE staying in the App that contained the App the entire time). 
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