Truthiness in digital signage

May 3, 2006 by Dave Haynes

I won't go all the way and lump this in with past examples of rampant nonsense, but instead apply the term Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert calls "truthiness" — described in Wikipedia as "the quality by which a person purports to know something emotionally or instinctively without regard to evidence or to what the person might conclude from intellectual examination."

Seattle-based Impart does some nice work, like the company's I-Point kiosks, but a press release on a forthcoming product goes more than a little over the top about its merits.

Here's Chairman Joseph Martinez on the apparently revolutionary new IQ Box that his firm is about to give to the world.

"Most digital signage networks have historically been complicated and costly to manage and deploy. However through the use of open software standards coupled with familiar and reliable web browser interface tools, IQ Box(TM) users are now empowered with the ability to manage a digital network from anywhere in the world; we believe that enabling this type of control of over media environments will deliver significant recurring revenue streams."

Martinez added in the press release: "The packaging of the IQ Box(TM) as an intelligent self-contained media player with free embedded software and no licensing fees, positions IMPART as the market leader in setting the standard for simple, easy-to-use and smart digital signage solutions worldwide, and we believe that the IQ Box product line will do for the deployment of digital elements what the iPod did for the marriage of the music industry with the Internet."

Gotta admire the guy for moxy.

But Joe, there are companies already doing just what your PR describes, and it is one giant reach to liken a digital signage player to the iPod.