With the rapid emergence of some new and seemingly hardy digital forms of media, one question remains, "are they built to last?"
SMS Mobile Marketing
A recent study by Multimedia Intelligence found that "In 2008, 169,000 newly installed digital displays had Bluetooth, RFID, Wi-Fi or SMS capabilities or some combination of these four protocols." They also claim that by 2012 nearly 40% of digital signage displays will somehow will be integrated with mobile devices. That's an astounding number to me. I knew interactivity of some degree would be integrated across networks, but not to the extent they claim.
A study released several months ago by Physorg, compared the cost of sending an SMS text message with sending and receiving messages from the Hubble space telecsope. The conclusion: it is 4.4 times more expensive to send an SMS than it is to send and recieve messages from the Hubble telescope in outerspace. It was calculated that SMS messages run approximately $732.95 per MB. That's ridiculous! If people were in control, we would have it free. The only thing keeping SMS going is the cell-phone companies disallowing hacks. Otherwise, someone would have eliminated this nefarious rape of the American public.
Enter the G-Phone
Google, in their ever-reaching attempts to take over the world, has launched their open source cellular phone, powered by Android. This technology will help to revolutionize the way people communicate. A revolution that will, of course, include open source programming. In my mind, IM on open source phones will eventually replace SMS. Applications can be easily written that send messages through the WWW to an account other than a cellular phone account. Cell phone companies will either have to include it more cheaply in their plans or revert to some other form of pay per text.
Digital Signage
If, as the projections surmise, digital signage and mobile phones are to be quite comfortable bedfellows as technologies emerge and converge, it only makes sense that the demise of SMS will affect the digital signage market. I can see RFID technology becoming a much greater contending player in the integration of mobile technology and digital signage. Although some argue that RFID helps to further invade into consumer privacy, it also give consumers more of what they want to see--a titilating invitation wouldn't you say?
Adaptation the forte of emerging digital media. It's a "kill or be killed" mentality. And, in our digital natural selection wilderness, it will remain to be seen which digital mediums will emerge and be here to stay, or which will become the saber-toothed tigers of yesteryear. Perhaps my assumptive projections are nonsensical and SMS somehow finds a way to emerge and adapt to the future trends of communication and branding. If it neglects to adapt, it will die.
