• by Jonathan Blum , May 11, 2010

Get ready for the Gumby factor in point-of-sale: Big bright clear, commercial displays - that also happen to bend - will be coming to a mall, TV show or supermarket near you sometime in mid-2010. 

Earlier this year, at the Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas, the Georgia-based flexible display maker NanoLumens made quite a buzz in the normally mundane world of high-end, commercial signage: The company demoed a 112-inch full motion, full color video display that was flexible enough to be hung as a banner.

The device tips the scales at about 88 pounds, is one-inch thick, is powered by normal 120 volt wall currents and is driven by any number of easy-to-install video processors. Company president Richard Cope promised first quarter delivery on the display, which is blistering fast for a next-gen display. And  there was "overwhelming demand" for his new technology. 

And that demand seems to be real. Philidelphia-based video integrator, Video Visions Inc., confirmed it has come to terms with NanoLumens - no mean feat for a small display maker like NanoLumens. 

Video Visions supplies the video tools for NFL Today, CBS Nightly News, retail outlets like Versace, Gucci, and Tiffany & Co. and represents most major display makers from LG to Sony to Panasonic. And the video integrator says it is seeing interest in the NanoLumens display from its customers. 

"From 20 feet away, it looks great. You can hang it in a mall as a video banner or as an information source in a train station," says Steve Artsis, executive vice president at Video Visions. Artsis said his firm was briefed on an early version of the display and he found it durable and reliable. 

"We will definitely sell some of these for them," said Artsis.