Few years back, the digital signage industry did bet on Android as the next OS for signage, mainly for the small and medium businesses that were looking for a well-known OS, simple to use, free and open, to bring the digital signage message to businesses at any size.
It is true, the challenges for implementing powerful signage software on Android based devices were enormous, especially around NFT (Non Functional Testing) the devices were not robust, the OS itself was less than forgiving… it took some time and few releases but can safely say now, that Android based devices for digital signage are a success, implemented around the world in growing numbers, satisfaction is growing and users, especially in SMBs see the value.
Just recently, during a Google I/O event at San Francisco, it was announced the new Android release – Android M – is born! The proud parents will expose it to the world during Q3 2015. The main impacts on the digital signage market will be the new app permission management (will slightly resemble the iOS), easier integration with external apps (very important for the signage business) and improved RAM management for better performance on Android based devices.
Android M, is the natural evolution in the Android OS development life cycle and the digital signage software providers, are keen to start testing and adopting it to signage needs. Android M will most probably increase the popularity of Android based devices in digital signage.
Google, with the Android OS is in fact recently pushing the Chrome OS into signage as well. This is becoming an important player in the digital signage market. If we combine that with Google’s vision on the IoT (Internet of Things) and the last concept in signage – SoT (Signage of Things) – it seems like exciting prospects are expected in this area.
Android M – digital signage is waiting impatiently for you!
Fedor.