Industrial Tablets Capture 64% of $ 1.7 Billion U.S. Handheld Market in 1996 According to Recent Research by Mobile Insights Inc.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — May 7, 1996 — While the rest of the market frets about how and when handheld computing will become profitable, leading makers of industrial tablets — such as Telxon, Norand, Symbol, and Fujitsu Personal Systems — will this year ship over $ 1.1 billion to corporate accounts in the United States.
Defined as rugged, handheld units typically between 9" and 11" in length and weighing 2-4 lb., industrial tablets are used in thousands of industry-specific applications, from checking-in rental cars, to taking inventory in supermarkets, to entering orders for beverage distributors.
Evolving from older data capture devices, today's industrial tablets, like Telxon's PTC or Norand's PenKey series, provide total solutions for companies who need to get data from the field to corporate databases faster and more accurately than was previously possible.
Based on Mobile Insights Inc.'s primary market research with end-users — including fifty recently completed case studies — and its ongoing contact with vendors, Mobile Insights has defined and forecast this very successful segment of the handheld computing market. With average selling prices of $ 2,250 in 1996, industrial tablets account for 64% of total U.S. handheld market revenues.
Unlike PDAs (personal digital assistants), which are intended for horizontal markets, industrial tablets provide solutions in vertical markets. They often run DOS- or Windows-based software and are sold with tested applications, which include wireless radios.
Three secrets to the success of industrial tablets compared to PDAs are:
— Sales are to groups of mobile workers, such as a field service departments, rather than individuals. The benefits of product usage are significantly greater and more readily measured than sales to individuals, executives, or other mobile workers.
— Sales are based on clear benefits, often measured in return-on-investment (ROI) analysis. Companies buy solutions to problems, not technologies (for example, no one buys "handwriting recognition" for its own sake).
— Vendors of industrial tablets have selected vertical markets such as retail stores and distribution where the benefits of field automation can be quantified. These vendors have also based their sales on providing total systems instead of pieces of the system. Mobile Insights forecasts sales of industrial tablets in the United States to continue to grow over 16% annually, to $ 2.2 billion in the year 2000, as companies seek to increase the productivity of their field workers while realizing that handheld devices are a critical part of the total systems they need.
Mobile Insights Inc. provides professional services to mobile computing and communications vendors. In addition to conducting market analysis for major U.S. and international equipment and services suppliers, the company publishes Mobile Letter, the leading monthly publication on mobile computing.
Mobile Insights also provides market research and consulting through its MobileTrax service. The company produces the annual Mobile Insights conference, held earlier this year at the Arizona Biltmore and attended by more than 250 industry leaders. Mobile Insights is a privately held company based in Mountain View.
CONTACT:
Mobile Insights Inc.
Michael French, 415/937-0936
Barbara Hubbard, 415/937-0945