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WELCOME & CONTENTS EDITOR’S COMMENT The retail wow factor


ONE EVENING recently, after work, I did something rather unusual – for me, anyway. I bought an iPad keyboard from Currys PC World in Oxford Street, London’s main shopping thoroughfare. I had done my research online beforehand, so I had a pretty good idea


which model I wanted before I walked into the shop. That’s probably just as well, because it wasn’t easy to make an informed decision from what was in front of me. The product was locked away in a glass-fronted cabinet, and once I had it in my hands I wasn’t allowed to open up the packaging to get an idea of what the keyboard felt like to use. I say that this was an unusual occurrence for me because ordinarily I would


‘My hope is that more retailers will use technology that encourages


customers into their stores’


probably have made this purchase online – it would certainly have been cheaper in this instance, but I had a gift card to redeem. And I rarely go shopping in central London, but this particular model had proved unavailable at my local branch, nor had I seen it in at any of the airport electronics shops I’d been in recently. I’m pleased with my purchase, but the process of buying it wasn’t that


great. It’s one small example of how the high-street retail experience can often be less satisfactory than the online equivalent. One of the tools that retailers have to address this situation is audiovisual


technology. As we mention in our feature this issue (page 25), retail is the hot sector for videowalls at the moment. One notable installation that has been in the news recently is the new Burberry flagship store in Regent Street – not very far from my Currys PC World branch, as it turns out. A giant 40sqm Prysm videowall is the technological centrepiece, flanked


on either side by an impressive curved staircase. But the technology goes far deeper than that. RFID chips in clothes trigger the playing of informative videos – detailing how the garment was made and showing it in action on the catwalk – when they are brought in the vicinity of one of the store’s ‘magic mirrors’; and assistants call up customers’ purchase histories on iPads to make the shopping experience more personal. What I rather like is the way that the company has taken some of the things that people like about online shopping and brought them into the physical world: so, for instance, rather than standing in a queue to pay for your purchases, you sit on a sofa – as you might do when shopping at home – while they are brought to you, wrapped, and all you have to do is swipe your credit card. Now clearly not everyone can be Burberry – and an installation like this is


more appropriate for a major brand’s flagship location than for High Street, Anytown. But my hope is that more retailers can take inspiration from this and use technology that encourages customers into their stores to explore their product range – rather than keeping this information under lock and key.


Paddy Baker, Editor, Installation–paddy.baker@intentmedia.co.uk    


NEWS & DATA 04 News 08 Appointments: The latest industry moves


10 Expos & events: Calendar for the coming months


12 Industry data: LCD sales poised for recovery


15 Show review: InfoComm MEA


PEOPLE 19 Opinion: The AV industry has much to be proud of this year, according to Blair Parkin


22 Interview: We talk to InfoComm CEO Randy Lemke on the eve of his retirement


FEATURES 25 Videowalls: As the technology develops, new markets are opening up


31 Auditoriums: Affordable digital consoles have led to a revolution in the theatre and concert hall sector


37 Large-scale projection: Huge multimedia presentations are rapidly gaining in popularity


41 Regional voices: Russia


TECHNOLOGY 43 New products 48 Sector showcase: Cabling and connectors


SOLUTIONS 51 European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg: An innovative improvement of the infrastructure in this multilingual environment


54 Fassberg High School, Molndal: A flexible audio set-up was needed to handle the school’s array of needs


57 Bloomsburg University, Pennsylvania: An innovative renovation includes an extensive complement of AV kit


Cover image: A Prysm videowall at GE’s Global Innovation Center in Markham, Ontario – Courtesy of Advanced


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Contact us at info@vivitek.eu | www.vivitek.eu | +31 20 6550960 www.installation-international.com November 2012 3


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