Today we released updates to both the Apple iOS and Google Android versions of Embark – our global wayfinding and transit app.

Media and marketing scribes in Australia were ignited somewhat last week with news of the imminent awarding of one of the largest outdoor media contracts in Australia — the City of Sydney’s street furniture and outdoor advertising assets. The official timetable quotes February as the expected announcement date.

Comprising over 2,000 physical assets, the City of Sydney contract has been held by JCDecaux since 1999, and the tendering process has been underway for over 12 months.

Right off the bat, the changes to the Australian outdoor advertising market over the past couple of weeks are very positive.

Stronger competition in a consolidated market will accelerate investment in innovation of hardware and software and will mean that the influence of digital out-of-home (DOOH) screens, not just the size, will shape the market as it approaches the magic $1 billion mark.

The team here at Contact Light (makers of the Embark transit app) have just completed a successful launch campaign in Brisbane, testing our patented tech across a network of XTD’s digital out-of-home (OOH) screens that span 4 metro stations.

I recently wrote an article titled throw your tablet strategy away. I wrote this as I observed “phablets”, as well as smartphones more generally, eating further into the sales and use cases of larger format computers.