This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
‘Wow,’ and the 2011 IPI Show By John Van Horn


I set out on the last day of the 2011 IPI Conference and Expo to find new products. You know, the ones that make


you go “wow.” If “wow” means something that will change the face of the industry (such as prox cards, pay-by-credit-card or pay-on-foot), then I failed. The comments I heard from many attendees and exhibitors


was that a lot of the products were “same old, same old,” and that others were similar to exist- ing products, but with new out- side designs. That is, new paint, “new skins,” new “look,” but not a lot of newtechnology. In Europe, the major indus-


shown at trade shows to gauge a reaction. Design flaws thatwent unnoticed in the lab nowbecome apparent, and then adjustments aremade as the product finds itsway tomarket. This process on an every-other-year schedule can mean that


try shows are scheduled on an every-other-year basis.Manufac- turers use these events as a “launch” for newproducts. We like to think that technology moves rapidly; however, in


A year isn’t enough time to forge a new product or take a new design from the drawing board to reality.


our industry, it’s a tad more glacial. It’s one thing to develop a cell phone that’s also a camera, computer and Game Boy, with your potential marketplace at a billion users. Huge upfront investment is made based on a high-end outcome. Pushing the product tomarket is necessary and desirable. However, when your potential market is limited in a niche such as parking, things move more slowly. Often, mockups are


newideas can be test-shown at the industry event and then either put forward or dropped over the upcoming 24 months; a “final” product can be displayed; or a newset of ideas put forward. When the show runs every


year, manufacturers are hard- pressed to keep ahead of the “wow” factor. Often, a year isn’t enough time to forge a newprod- uct or take a newdesign fromthe drawing board to reality. That being said, I do think that some manufacturers show-


ing at IPI made great progress where product enhancement is concerned. For instance, ParkAssist is a parking guidance company that


is partneringwithAmanoMcGann. Last year, its product – based on using CCTV to determine open parking spaces and red/green lights to guide parkers to them – added a new twist. The camera would “read” your license plate and then you could enter the plate when you paid and the system would tell you where your carwas parked.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56