Digital Signage Central

We have had a bunch of questions in response to our post about the beta release and the new product positioning and I thought it might be helpful to summarize them and our responses here, for all to share.

What does advertising supported mean on the free version?

It means that we are reserving the right to include advertising both in the system to manage the digital signage content and also on the actual target digital signage display. At this point we don’t know if or how we will do this, but we want to put it on the table that we are going to keep that option open for ourselves. Keep in mind this only applies to the free version.

Will our subnetwork accounts also be charged $150 per month 3 years from now?

You will be charged $150 per month for each network operator account that you have, including your own. A network operator account gives the account holder the ability to manage sub accounts and brand their network. Any regular accounts, i.e. typical end user digital signage accounts, are included within the $150 per month fee for your network operator account. You won’t be charged for those.

Will we be able to purchase the current version at a cost of $15 per month?

We will continue to support the current version of Rise Display Network but we cannot guarantee the price charged. We are currently negotiating with Dow Jones as they have imposed a fee for every display that shows their index and we will unfortunately have to pass that cost along once it is confirmed, and as everyone migrates to the new system the number of appliances on the Rise Display Network will continue to decline and we could come to the point where the costs of running that network are only being carried by a few remaining appliances. At that point we may have to adjust pricing as well. The cost of operating the Rise Display Network is considerably greater than the cost of operating the new Rise Vision Application.

Who can be a beta tester?

Only our existing resellers. Sorry, we’re not opening it to anyone else until we have a full public release in the fall.

Will a TV tuner be able to be used with the new software?

First thing to keep in mind is that the new system is wide open. Anyone can add anything to it if they choose to. Either by creating a Google Gadget, writing custom HTML or creating their own applications for Players or the actual user interface to manage the system. We have open sourced most of the applications, used open source gadgets and we have published all of our API’s.

Having said that. At this point in time we are not prepared to support hardware directly. We are trying desperately to be completely hardware independent. This especially includes TV Tuners. However, we are currently building a gadget to support IPTV and that gadget can utilize a TV tuner as the source of that content.

How are we going to make money?

Making money is defined as the difference between what you earn and what you spend. If you don’t spend much it doesn’t take much to make money.

By moving to the Google App engine we are going realize considerable savings.

By becoming a virtual organization we have realized considerable savings – I am very glad to tell you that we just shut down our last in-office server on Friday and put our pbx in the cloud. Our really big, very nice office in Etobicoke is up for sublet and we’re looking for a new space, that is much smaller, and only has one purpose – to facilitate getting together every couple of weeks for product planning sessions.

By releasing open source applications and API’s for the platform and using HTML, HTML5 and Google Gadgets for our content, we are allowing you, our resellers and integrators, to make this your application, highly customized where you want it to be, we only focus on the platform, nothing else.

And we’re done with traditional marketing and all regurgitated hype that goes with it. I particularly started jumping up and down yelling yes! yes! yes! when I read this post on Dave Hayne’s blog last week; ”… Imagine an industry in which no one beat their chests emptily about being the global leader in cutting-edge, state of the art signage solutions that help businesses cross the chasm into the 21st century!!! What an inflection point! Without all that blabber, companies would actually have to say what they do and why people  should care. I know … a crazy thought.” Thank you Dave!

This blog and the new web site that will launch in the fall is our vehicle to reach you. We’re going to tell it like it is – for good or for bad. We are not hiring PR people to wrap it all up in corporate speak. We’re not going to send glossy catalogues to you in the mail and we sure as heck are not going to spam you either. We’re going to use our web site, our blog and a soon to be released referral/affiliate program to spread what we do. We’re only charging $150 per month for our network operator service so we’re not going to hire expensive sales types to travel the world to meet with you, talk to you and generally harangue you. We’re making a limited version of the product free and if you like it, take out an operator account and if you don’t – pretend you never tried it.

If you want to pay for the hype, the gloss, the corporate bloat, the salespeople, their travel costs, expensive trade shows, and all of that other stuff that we just don’t think adds any value to the product, then you should definitely check out a few of our competitors. We on the other hand are going to focus on making sure we have the lowest cost of operation in the industry, and, we also have a few other new revenue sources that we’re just not prepared to talk about quite yet. Stay tuned!

What should a reseller charge?

It is up to you to create value and therefore determine your price. If your going to take our product and not provide expertise, procurement, deployment, creative, advertising, development, support, monitoring or any other number of really valuable services that digital signage users need and we don’t provide, forget it, the end user isn’t going to need you that much.  However, if you do provide one or more of the above then that is worth a premium and you need to charge for it. How much? That depends upon what you provide, what your cost basis is, and your volume. In other words, we are not giving guidance on price, our only advice is to make sure that you add great services to our network, and if you do, make sure you charge for them – cause the end user will need you.

When will we provide media player bundles?

When we release the public version, currently targeting the fall, we will also provide a very simple link that media player manufacturers can use to include our digital signage service on their players. There won’t be any charge for this.

Do we have recommended media player specs for the new system?

Not yet. But we will publish them during the beta release.

What are the features of the new system – will it cover all of the current functionality that we offer?

The new Rise Vision application is simpler. We have removed much of the multi-site functionality that made Rise Display Network complicated to understand and was rarely used. We have further removed the media library. There are so many great services that provide media asset management and we just don’t feel that we need to create it. Once again we only want to focus on where we can add great value – the digital signage platform – and we are going to use others that have it as their focus to manage online media. Otherwise, if your an existing reseller, the best way to know the differences is to check out the beta. Also, over the next few weeks we are going to open our development process to allow you to review and contribute to what we build and when. So if it isn’t in the app today it will likely be in the app shortly thereafter if what you want is wanted by all and if it falls into the area that we specialize in.

I hope the above helps. And if there are more questions or clarifications needed please don’t hesitate to let us know.