U.K. company Hypertag is selling an innovate electronic billboard, one that encourages user interaction by sending messages to nearby mobile devices. As per the web site http://www.hypertag.com/, "It works by allowing infra-red mobile phones, and PDAs (e.g. Palm Pilots or Pocket PCs) to interact with a small electronic tag which is attached to the advert or sign. To use the system, you enable the infra-red port on your mobile phone and point lights. You wait a few seconds, and then a piece of content will be downloaded to your phone. This can be a word and number, a prompt to remind you of an important event, a picture, ring tone or game." Hypertag has been available for a while now, but yesterday Netimperative reported that Bluetooth support is being added (see http://www.netimperative.com/2004/12/07/Interactive_posters_Bluetooth). Cool stuff.
Billboards That Communicate With You Via IR And Now Bluetooth
3 Comments
P
philox
Cool but Kameleon Technologies, web site: http://www.kameleon-europe.com, is doing interactive billboards with an enhanced Bluetooth since a year. The four years research on Bluetooth allowed to enhance the speed of connection (50ms), the battery life of the emetter which can work 2 years on a battery supply and most of all the "one click" access to content. And it doesn't have the risk of damaging the brand image as the content download is consumer driven.
P
philox
I tried yesterday one of your posters in Paris in the 9th quarter and I had some disagreements:
1 - The billboard is 3 metre high: you have to be a giant like me to put your mobile in the line of sight of the infrared signal
2 - The billboard says that you can download 4 different goodies but I tried it three times ands the three times I receive 8 sec of a song! Interesting!
R
rharker
We would like to point out that Hypertag interactive poster campaigns are run for and on behalf of major brand advertisers, and are designed to deliver a positive brand experience for every person who interacts. In practice this means that mobile content offered through a Hypertag is always interesting, useful, informative and entertaining.