In The News
Smart Technologies acquires NextWindow to move into touch screen business (Venture Beat)
Touchscreens are the hottest thing in user interfaces for everything from phones to laptops to tablet computers such as the iPad. So it’s no surprise that Canada’s Smart Technologies has acquired New Zealand touchscreen technology maker NextWindow.
SMART Technologies Acquires NextWindow: Consolidation in Optical Imaging Touch Screens (DisplaySearch)
Although both companies are using optical imaging touch technology, their target markets are different. As SMART’s CEO, Nancy Knowlton indicated that NextWindow’s “business model, patent portfolio and focus on the consumer market make it an attractive acquisition for us.”
Canadian company snaps up NZ tech firm (NZ Herald)
Al Monro said Next Window's investors - primarily overseas venture capital and private equity firms - would be very pleased with the outcome of the sale. "It gives [Next Window] access to a bigger company, a wider range of IP and a bigger balance sheet," he said.
Touch-Screen Technology in the Enterprise? (Windows IT Pro)
You might think touch-screen is more suited to the entertainment realm, but I'm seeing some definite potential for the enterprise. Monro spoke of a bank in Houston that's using a TouchSmart solution in one of its branches: "It allows a customer to chat with a 'virtual loan officer' via the use of a webcam and touch applications." Also, he said, "Some automotive dealers are deploying interactive displays to allow prospective new car buyers to configure their own vehicle with various options."
With The Proliferation Of Multi-Touch Technologies, The Exciting New Future Of Physical Interactivity Will Be Like Playing Tai-Chi (Innovation Playground blog)
These mid-size touch screen OEM manufacturers instead of supplying companies
such as HP, LG, Samsung, Toshiba and Sony may end up competing against them.
These companies include FlatFrog, RPO, Microsoft, NextWindow, TouchCo and Vissumo.
Windows 7 and NextWindow (Windows7news.com)
NextWindow has been instrumental in working with Microsoft to develop the Windows 7 Logo test. This means, that a company wishing to display the Windows 7 Logo for touch technology, must pass a series of technology tests.
Getting in Touch (Sound & Communications)
NextWindow’s Anthony Uhrick discusses trends in the large-format industry in this white paper. "For resellers and integrators, there's no time like the present to recover margins in the commoditized display resale market by offering customers a richer value-add solution based on interactive touch screens."
Top Technologies of The Decade (PC Magazine Forward Thinking blog)
I seriously considered plenty of other technologies for this list, including "Web 2.0" social networking, pioneered by sites such as MySpace, Digg, Delicious, Flickr, YouTube, and Facebook; GPU computing, popularized mainly by Nvidia; touch technology, based on pioneering work from technology providers such as Wacom and Next Window, and user interfaces pioneered by Microsoft, Apple, and HP…
Windows 7 could hasten touch-screen computers (USA Today)
Turning the mouse and keyboard into benchwarmers is, at best, a touch-and-go proposition. In fact, touch is meant to augment and complement the mouse and keyboard rather than supplant them. "Some things are just inherently easier to do with touch," says Al Monro, CEO of NextWindow in New Zealand, a supplier of optical multitouch displays for major manufacturers.
Touch Screens: Enterprises, They May Be Coming To You (IT Expert Voice)
One example is electronic medical records systems, which doctors and nurses access in order to get information about their patients’ medical history, medications, and so on. “Touch is intended and best used when consuming information as opposed to creating information,” says Geoff Walker, product marketing manager for NextWindow.
Multitouch Moves to the Big Screen: PCs (BusinessWeek)
Falling prices for multitouch laptop and desktop displays (the former mostly using technology from Israeli startup N-trig, and the latter mainly from New Zealand's NextWindow) are the chief reasons we will soon see multitouch on lots of mainstream PCs, even though applications are still relatively limited.
Dell Studio One Touchscreen Windows 7 PC Review (PC Perspective)
Besides the integrated on-screen keyboard, Windows 7 includes a surprisingly impressive handwriting recognition program that you can use your finger with, or like me, use the back of a ball point pen. That is one of the advantages of the NextWindow technology that allows you to use just about anything for a stylus or pointing device with extremely low pressure.
Touchscreen Tech, Windows 7, Tablet PCs (OS News)
One thing's for sure, if you do want a touchscreen, there's never been a better time. The Dell Studio One costs $1024, which is expensive for a PC, but not necessarily for a sleek all-in-one. The similarly-spec'ed iMac costs $1199. NextWindow's optical touchscreen tech has many advantages over the older touchscreens you may have used in the past, not least of which is support for multi-touch and the pinch-and-pan capabilities you may have experienced with the iPhone.
Microsoft feels its way into the next generation of PCs (Financial Times)
Geoff Walker, product marketing manager of NextWindow, whose optical touch technology is behind Dell, HP and Sony products, told a recent display conference that software developers had so far made only rough and unimaginative touch applications for Windows 7.
The
Grill: Al Monro
(Computerworld)
Computerworld's Eric Lai interviews NextWindow CEO Al Monro about the touch PC market, optical touch technology, and the potential for touch screens as a new user interface on the PC. "You're going to still keep using the keyboard and mouse," Monro says. "But there are going to be some things that are much more intuitive to do with touch."
Emerging Displays: Touch Screens and Beyond (PC Magazine blog)
At the DisplaySearch Emerging Displays Conference, Geoff Walker of NextWindow said he expects to see touch on 70 percent of all-in-one computers, 20 percent of monitors, and 10 percent of the notebooks designed for Windows 7.
Notes: DisplaySearch Emerging Display Technologies Conference (Display Blog)
According to Geoff Walker, most OEMs have at least one touch-enabled product under development to work with Windows 7. About 70% will be AIOs (all-in-ones), 20% monitors and 10% will be notebook PCs. Unfortunately, none of the OEMs have a clear vision of what will drive demand for touch.
Windows 7: The OS that launches a thousand touch-screen PCs? (Computerworld)
NextWindow Ltd. said Wednesday that its optical touch-screen overlays, which are already used to touch-enable Dell's and HP's PCs, are being adopted by a number of PC and monitor makers for forthcoming all-in-one PCs running Windows 7.
Shipping firm links with VisionLine for display project (Installation Europe)
To provide customers and partners with vessel-tracking information and company background, TORM decided in 2007 to seek an electronic solution based around interactive touchscreen displays. That spring, the company engaged Denmark-based VisionLine to provide hardware and install a five-monitor system at its Copenhagen base comprising four 46in NextWindow touch monitors with a 19in kiosk from 3M that can control the larger monitors.
A New Zealand-based firm is out to revolutionize touch-screen computing (LiveMint.com, HT Media of India)
NextWindow’s Anthony Uhrick speaks with an India news organization about the future of touch: “I think it is very reasonable to assume that touch screens will become a standard peripheral. Two things I think will help drive this trend: a reduction in price and applications that are designed for touch.”
Touch in Windows 7: Just for show? (CNET)
NextWindow CEO Al Monro disputes the idea that there needs to be one killer application for touch screen PCs to take off. Rather, he said, what the industry needs is for a variety of software makers to take the plunge.
Touch Gives Desktop PCs New Life (BusinessWeek)
Instead of using the screen itself to detect touch, the HP TouchSmart and Dell Studio One PCs use an array of cameras built into the frame around the screen to detect hand movements. This optical touch-sensing technology comes from a New Zealand company called NextWindow.
Will touchscreen Windows 7 netbooks be hot or not? (ZDNet)
It’s a true “which will come first” — the demand for touch-enabled PCs or the compelling touch apps — dilemma. Al Monro, CEO of NextWindow — a leading provider of interactive touch-screens — agrees.
NextWindow receives U.S., Chinese patents for optical touchscreens (SelfService World.com)
The newly granted patents, which refer to optical touch systems incorporating light emitters, reflectors and detection methods, help cement NextWindow’s leadership positions in the Chinese manufacturing and U.S. sales markets.
NextWindow Rolls Out New Touch Overlay (ProAV Online)
The NextWindow 2700 is ideal for public-facing applications such as digital signage or directories in shopping malls, according to the company. Visitors in a mall might use their fingers to scroll through a list of retail stores, re-size windows to view a variety of content simultaneously, or click through product videos or other interactive media.
NextWindow Makes Deloitte Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500
Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2008 Ranking and CEO Survey (1552 KB pdf file)
NextWindow in Deloitte Unlimited Fast 50 List
NextWindow have again achieved recognition for their outstanding business growth, and for the third year in a row have made the Deloitte Unlimited Fast 50 List (60 KB pdf).
In the latest list, NextWindow is at position 11 out of the 50 most rapidly growing companies in New Zealand.
