Android For Digital Signage: A Closer Look At TargetR

May 22, 2013 by Dave Haynes

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The latest in our running series of closer looks at Android-driven digital signage solution providers is UK-based TargetR.

Some 30 companies have introduced products based on the open-source Android operating system that is very widely used for smart devices like handsets and tablets, all of them using CPUs based on ARM reference designs. Most smartphones and tablets use ARM.

It is likely that much of the industry will shift to ARM-based devices using Android or Linux in the next 1-3 years because ARM devices now rival the processing power of lower cost x86 personal computing devices, but at a fraction of the cost and, in most cases, size.

TargetR

TargetR is based on the JADS software platform, but according to CIO Stuart James “is a complete ground up rewrite which started in the September 2011 headed by Dr Michael Gardiner (CTO).”

targetrcustomLogoThe company was formed and incorporated last fall. The main difference of TargetR, says James, “is to allow for cross account targeting of advertisements from content owners to channel owners, with a approval system as well as built in marketplace.”

“TargetR is currently being re-sold worldwide by a variety of partners who rebrand it as there own solution (we support customised APK as well Enterprise server deployments). We have a variety of large manufacturers and existing digital signage companies now in the midst of migrating to TargetR, and will be stirring up the industry in relation to pricing and functionality.”

“Our cloud pricing  for our fully hosted TargetR Cloud is located at http://cloud.targetr.net/signup/ . Our Enterprise pricing is very competitive (license only) and is geared for large deployments and includes TargetR Server component starting at €800 per month for 200 screens + €1000 setup.”

I haven’t seen the platform, but the TargetR feature list suggests this is a pretty serious, rich platform. Some of the Android platforms popping up can be quite reasonably questioned in terms of capabilities and stability, but others appear to pack a genuine punch.

On the other hand, TargetR says it is running a really old version of Android (1.6), whereas many others are on versions of Android 4. TargetR says its lightweight design means it runs on very low spec hardware, and Android as far back as that v1.6.

TargetR For Android

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