Corning Reveals Interactive Retail Glass

[CES 2016] When we mention Corning, most of the time one would think of Gorilla Glass, as that seems to be their most popular export. However, it seems that Corning has long moved beyond churning out tough glasses for smartphone and tablet displays, in order to remain competitive with the rest of the market. Dr. Jeffrey Evenson, Corning’s SVP and CSO, shared, “As we extend the technical and design capabilities of precision glass, Corning continues to deliver innovative technologies that enable more connected, interactive, and customizable lifestyles. We’re excited to engage consumers and industry partners in a set of new application opportunities inspired by our vision for the future – all made possible by Corning.” This would include an interactive retail glass that might just spring up like mushrooms in the future if the idea catches on.

As you can see in the photo gallery, the image on the glass is far from being what we are used to on today’s LCD and LED displays, taking into consideration how this particular effort by Corning should still be in its infancy. Whatever is shown on the glass is not due to electronics on the glass’ surface itself, but rather, there is a projector-like device on top that beams the interface at an angle, and much work could be done to increase the resolution count for the future.

What is projected ends up on some sort of matte-like layer that, when you manipulate the icons on the beamed user interface, they will react accordingly. It remains to be seen whether this will cause folks to enter the store after going through your catalogue of items or not, but one thing’s for sure – you would have to put in additional effort in cleaning the glass window at the end of the day or before your shift starts due to the additional number of fingers, greasy ones even, touching the display all over the place.

It looks like what is projected will not look too legible under bright or direct sunlight, as it was demonstrated in a rather dim setting, so we will just have to wait and see how Corning is going to develop this idea further.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: CES, CES 2016, corning