Inside and Outside the 4 Walls with Mobile Software and Handheld PDAs

I have spoken to a number of handheld computer manufacturers and distributors this month and they have all emphasized that 2007 is the year to go out-of-doors with their handheld PDAs and handheld barcode scanners. The market inside the 4 walls is flat (no growth). The industry's growth is in mobility, the great rugged outdoors.

Symbol/Motorola has the MC70, MC50 and MC35 handheld PDAs and barcode scanners that are meant to be used in mobile out-of-doors environments. Psion Teklogix, Socket, Hand Held Products, Intermec and most others are dedicating sales teams and marketing campaigns to this mobile handheld and mobile software market segment.

From a software perspective, MobileDataforce started in this rugged environment. Our mobile software platforms were designed from the beginning to work equally well whether connected or disconnected indoors or outdoors.

Ryzex Buys, Sells & Recycles Mobile Handheld PDAs and Computers

If you don't know about Ryzex, you probably should. They buy old handheld barcode scanners as well as sell new mobile handheld PDAs. Why is that interesting? Many companies have a closet full of old and broken handheld computers and barcode scanners. Ryzex will buy, repair, refurbish or recycle them.

Ryzex has a very interesting business model. They focus on managing the lifecycle of handheld barcode scanners for their customers. They can sell, lease or rent new handheld barcode scanners, or sell, lease or rent old ones. Some jobs are just not sexy enough to justify new barcode scanners. Some companies, like engineering firms, do a lot of project work and only need a handheld data collector for 3 months so may want to rent it.

Casio Enterprise Handheld PDA

It looks like the term "Enterprise PDA" is catching on, at least within the marketing organizations of both Casio and Motorola. Casio has the new IT-10 (the name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue does it?) Pocket PC. You can use it in the shower and drop it from 3 feet to the soap covered tile floor. It is also shock resistant. Now that is thinking ahead! No one likes getting shocked in the shower, dropping their handheld Pocket PC and having it break all in the same morning. Now that is a unique marketing angle! If you don't take showers, the IT-10 is also dust resistant and doesn't have a nose.

Casio describes the IT-10 as a "new rugged PDA designed and built to be used for vertical applications in severe business environments." If I read that right, it is not intended for horizontal applications in good business environments. Hummm...Seems like you could make more sales if you sold products to companies in good business environments.

The Juno Rugged Handheld Pocket PC

Trimble has just released, or at least I have just found out about, a new not-rugged Pocket PC (now Windows Mobile) called Juno, pronounced like but not to be confused with Juneau, Alaska. It looks rugged, but Trimble seems to want everyone to know it is not - The Juno™ ST handheld is a highly productive yet affordable, non-rugged GPS receiver for field data collection and mobile GIS. The Juno ST handheld is Trimble's most compact, lightweight, fully-integrated field computer, providing 2 to 5 meter GPS positioning in real time or after postprocessing.

The Juno ST handheld is ideal for utility companies, government organizations, and agencies that are managing large deployments and tight budgets....but don't mind breaking their handhelds and buying replacements that cost more than buying a rugged one in the first place (sorry I added that).

Garmin and Navman have long had PDAs with integrated GPS, but this seems to be Trimbles first efforts to provide low end, field data collection devices. I like the idea, but Trimble's marketers seem almost apologetic.

Another Plane Another Victim - Evangelizing Mobile Handheld PDA Applications

I was on another plane today and a senior engineer was unfortunate enough to be seated next to me. The engineer manages the building of highways and bridges. Hummm.... We do a considerable amount of work for companies involved in highway construction and bridge building by helping them implement mobile PDA solutions on rugged handhelds. In fact the largest engineering and construction firm in Australia has asked us to work with them on a number of interesting projects.

I love working with engineers. They have to collect data on everything and they often work on very strange projects.

Trimble is a ruggedized handheld vendor that develops a lot of solutions for this industry.

MobileDataforce provides a data collection software platform for rugged mobile handheld computers that allows engineering companies to quickly develop field data collection applications that are specific to the requirements of their customer's projects.