Large-format LCD panels with touchscreens may be about to change the look and feel of many retail stores. That’s the message from Horizon Technologies, a touchscreen maker who just introduced an integrated LCD panel in 40- and 42-inch sizes. After a few false starts, it appears the stars are aligning to finally bring touchscreen technology to larger panel sizes.

Steve Atwood
Insight Media Analyst

Horizon’s new products will include Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) touchscreen technology with a controller and an LCD monitor from NEC. This announcement is interesting not only because of the size, but because of the technology. For as long as I have been in the industry, the dominant supplier of SAW technology has been Elo Touch Systems. And while Elo has apparently shown large-format touchscreen products in Asia, I have not seen them promoting anything bigger than 32-inch in the US market. Recently some of the IP protections for SAW technology have expired, and that has opened the door for new suppliers to enter the US market.

Why use SAW technology? For one, it is a durable solution for gloved operation, which is needed especially in outdoor applications. Competitive resistive technology also operates with gloves but lacks the durability for unattended use. As a result, SAW technology is very strong in public access applications and the kiosk marketplace. Since Horizon, which provides integration services as well as distribution, intends to target these applications, SAW is a logical choice.

But the real question comes back to the applications. I spoke with Kurt Johnson, CEO of Horizon Technology, and asked him why they were excited about this technology now, and what they were seeing as the opportunities for large-format touch displays. He said that their customers involved Horizon in this development because of a significant push. They chose the NEC platform for their first product because of the strong presence NEC has already established in industrial markets for these monitors. The push for touch versions is coming from places such as retail, POI (Point of information), digital signage and corporate training. These are areas that have already embraced large-format displays and are now looking for more creative ways to enhance the user experience.

The use of touch screens in large displays is not a new concept, but it is one that has never gained a foothold - yet. Products have been announced and never appeared in the past, and with good reason. The basic problem has always been finding a killer application for a very-large-format touchscreen display that really incorporated the touch input as a fundamental component of the usage model.

Yes, there are some strong large-format touch applications with the most established probably being electronic whiteboarding. Products made by companies such as Smart Technologies and Polyvision are found in many high-tech classrooms and corporate training centers. Electronic whiteboards use a touchscreen technology to capture pen and finger activity on the surface of the board in real time. This is generally done with resistive touch technology, although there are some applications that use video cameras or infrared light beams. When combined with a front or rear projector, these products can become interactive large-screen displays, but for very specific purposes.

While both stable and interesting to its participants, the electronic-whiteboard market is relatively small and represents only a miniscule fraction of the small and medium size touchscreen display units sold today. Part of the problem with moving beyond this segment has been the cost of large displays and the relatively poor image quality when the display is viewed from less than an arm’s length away - a key requirement for any touch application.

The television market drives the development of these displays, regardless of technology, and they are all meant for viewing from a distance of more than 3 feet. I don’t know many people who can work a touch screen from that distance!

But now, the advent of 1920 x 1080 resolution LCD panels in the 40-inch size range are partially mitigating this problem, as their much higher pixel density makes the images more useable at close viewing distances (if the application is well designed).

Johnson agreed there were some valid questions about the practical user models in the applications they are targeting, but he believes some of the excitement is driven by the "WOW" factor. What really has him excited however is that the marketplace is loudly and clearly saying that the time has come to try these products. And more importantly, they just might be the killer application developers have been waiting for.

Although I’m not permitted to repeat the numbers I heard, the volumes being discussed are much higher than what I would have expected and are quite compelling. If a major retail chain embraces a new interactive retail-display application, the volumes could suddenly rival current point-of-sale terminal sales, at least for a short time. With retail chains like Walgreens having over 5000 stores, even deploying a single display per store can become a very interesting project for a supplier like Horizon. Multiple adoptions among the majors can change the whole scale of this market.

Other companies have also demonstrated and/or announced the availability of large-format touchscreens. 3M has shown its Dispersive Signal Technology (DST) in a 42-inch format and Touch International has produced similarly sized capacitive and resistive screens already. So, for the application developers, there are adequate touchscreen choices. Maybe the stars are aligning to create new business for touch screen makers and a new interactive experience for consumers.