Guest lines can form in retail stores, entertainment and sports venues, theme parks, and museums. When peak traffic periods cause long lines, operations and IT administrators are frequently turning to mobile Tablet PC systems to increase throughput. An alternative is to increase numbers of dedicated turn styles or cash registers, but that is rather undesirable because it takes up valuable retail space and reduces the ambiance of venues.

See the latest case study video below showing how MobileDemand xTablet T8700 rugged Tablet PC computers are used by a water park in Orlando, Florida. You can see that when lines form in peak times – when buses, trains, and ferry boats drop off masses of passengers, the staff pulls out the xTablet to break down the lines. You can see the guests are happy and the staff are proud of their accomplishment!

Many venues utilize MobileDemand Rugged Tablet PC systems to increase the throughput of their operations during peak times. Rigged with advanced credit card readers and bar code scanners, the xTablets are pulled out to break down the emerging lines. What better way to keep customers satisfied than by deploying the latest systems that make their experience as enjoyable as possible?

MobileDemand will be exhibiting at the National Retail Federation (NRF) Annual Convention and Expo from January 10th to the 13th at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. Well have our latest line busting Tablet PC the xTablet T7000 specifically designed with features for retail, entertainment, sports venues, theme parks and museums.

It’s a small and lightweight rugged Tablet PC (actually a UMPC class) that supports the new Windows 7 operating system. Together with the xTablet T8700, we offer a family of xTablet mobile computers that offers the capacity and performance to support mobile workforces in a variety of industries.

“Our customers need a new kind of rugged Tablet PC; one that is small and light-weight like a handheld, yet still has a large screen and the performance and functionality of a full Windows OS device,” says MobileDemand President Matt Miller. 

“The xTablet T7000 delivers on all these requirements. Customers can run full versions of their business applications eliminating the need to create and support ‘light’ versions. An example is in the direct store delivery market for consumer goods: in addition to replacing laptops for field sales, beta tests indicate that the xTablet T7000 also has the potential to replace handhelds for route delivery. Plus, it offers customers additional capabilities to provide new revenue-generating products and services to their customers and make better decisions at the point of transaction,” Miller continues.

The xTablet T7000 rugged UMPC (Ultra mobile PC) combines the functionality of a notebook, full Windows OS of a Tablet PC and the portability and data collection capabilities of a handheld in a light-weight slate form factor with a built-in numeric keypad, optional QWERTY keyboard attachment and 7” high resolution (1024 x 600 & 768) all-light-readable touch screen display.

This new ATOM based rugged Tablet PC is designed specifically for enterprises/businesses for mobile workforce applications, the xTablet T7000 is as tough the high performance xTablet T8700 but it’s smaller, lighter and packed with data collection features like barcode scanning, credit card reader, GPS, and camera.

It’s ideal for many applications, including retail mobile point of sale, hospitality & entertainment (point of sale, surveys), food/beverage delivery (aka beer truck drivers), transportation (installed in long haul semi-trucks), emergency services (ambulance, fire, police), anywhere a rugged computer is needed to bring efficiency to field and mobile operations.

And most importantly, MobileDemand does our part in getting the beer to your refrigerator, with over 2,000 of our xTablets installed in beer sales and delivery operations in the US. The xTablet T7000 model will continue that proud tradition!

MobileDemand offers rugged Tablet PCs for a variety of vertical industries that provide a lower total cost of ownership to our customers over non-rugged computers; which is supported by actual customer experience and factual independent research. MobileDemand elevates itself by uniquely offering the combination of a total complement of mounts and accessories, flexibility we build into our systems, superior and personalized customer service, and customer focused engineering – all to help our customers best satisfy their mobile computing needs.

MobileDemand has rugged Tablet PCs and accessories to meet and exceed the expectations of the most demanding mobile workers; regardless of industry or application. With business partners to assist you and built-in flexibility of the rugged tablet, everything you need is provided by MobileDemand. MobileDemand offers a wide assortment of accessories to allow customization of a rugged tablet to meet the needs of your application. Accessories include vehicle mounting systems, barcode scanner, imager, magnetic stripe reader (credit cards), shoulder straps, etc.

MobileDemand also has a Tablet PC related video blog at http://www.TabletPC.TV. 

The Tablet PC can provide better and more timely data presentation to the user to make improved field decisions, increasing sales opportunities while reducing costs and lost opportunities. Bottom line: Increases EFFICIENCY in mobile operations.

The large, full screen on a Tablet PC deployed in a mobile worker’s hands offers much more data than a smaller quarter VGA handheld screen. For example, MobileDemand xTablet customers can show order history, inventory levels, and pricing all in one screen so the user may make quick and informed decisions at the point of their customer interaction. A smaller screen handheld has obvious limitations that would require multiple screens to navigate to see the supporting data, making it cumbersome and less efficient.

Secondly, the standard PC compatibility allows for existing, off-the-shelf PC based software to run on the Tablet PCs. Or alternatively, if custom software is being written, it is generally much quicker and cheaper to write software for the standard PC platform than Windows Mobile / Win CE platforms.

The xTablet T8700 Rugged Tablet PC is mounted in a Paint Shaker! To demonstrate ruggedness of shock and vibration, we mounted the xTablet in a Red Devil paint shaker along with a USB accelerometer to measure the G-forces the tablet endures while being violently shaken.

Tablet PC in a Paint Shaker

We start by showing the xTablet secured in place while we use a Bluetooth mouse to maneuver within Windows – demonstrating the unit is working. The Tablet  PC is slapped to show the G-force graph is running. We start a video and turn the paint shaker on. The graph immediately goes crazy! We try to maneuver around in Windows again with the Bluetooth mouse – but it’s a little difficult as we can’t see where the cursor is. You can see the Start Menu appear and the touch keyboard.

We zoom in to see the wave form on the graph more closely. We turn off the paint shaker and back on while zoomed in. You can see the xTablet endures approximately 15Gs of violent forces!

We zoom in on the SENSR brand USB accelerometer.

And then… the out take showing our engineers who had to secure the base of the paint shaker as the violent shaking was causing it to slide across the concrete pad without it being held in place. I had to cut out when they said “TTHHAATT FFEEEELLSS GGOOOODD!”

This video is part of the MobileDemand “Torture Chamber Series” of videos that demonstrate the true ruggedness of our Tablet PC in  fun and entertaining ways.

Copyright 2008-2009 MobileDemand, LC

See the case study and video on this Anheuser-Busch Wholesaler using our rugged xTablet Tablet PC.

(link here)

Dale Lee Distributing Company, Inc.

Industry: Beer Wholesaler (Anheuser-Busch)

CHALLENGE

• Combine AB Mobility software with a full screen Tablet PC
• Reduce sales force downtime with a Rugged PC that could withstand harsh conditions

SOLUTION

• Implement xTablet throughout sales force to allow for more efficient use of time
• Couple xTablet T8700 Tablet PC with cellular card so orders can be sent to the warehouse at any time during the day

RESULT

• Added 20% more SKUs since implementing the xTablet Tablet PC
• Increased productivity among sales force

]]> http://www.ruggedtabletpc.com/blog/2008/11/tablet-pc-used-in-sales-delivery-for-beer-beverage-industry/feed/ 0 http://www.ruggedtabletpc.com/blog/2008/09/mobiledemand-rugged-tablet-pc-youtube-channel/ http://www.ruggedtabletpc.com/blog/2008/09/mobiledemand-rugged-tablet-pc-youtube-channel/#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:58:14 +0000 Matt Miller http://www.ruggedtabletpc.com/blog/mobiledemand-rugged-tablet-pc-youtube-channel/ MobileDemand has launched our YouTube Channel.  Check it out… another central location for our expanding Rugged Tablet PC video library.

Check out the new Tablet PC video blog here:  http://www.TabletPC.TV.

We are extremely pleased to have placed so high on the list.  It is a testament to our business model.  Our advanced Tablet PC technology, combined with customer-focused engineering support, and aggressive marketing, fuels MobileDemand’s growth.  It is also a testament to our customers – who are now returning to buy again from MobileDemand to upgrade their original xTablet T8400 models to the latest generation xTablet T8700 model.  It is no more satisfying to see nearly every one of our customers who installed xTablets in 2004 and 2005 coming back to MobileDemand.

As you may know, MobileDemand initially focused on the beer industry in 2004 and 2005.  We have three quotes from some of the early customers who have each upgraded to the latest xTablets:

MobileDemand is pleased to announce the xTablet T8700 rugged Tablet PC has been certified by the Anheuser-Busch (AB) Mobility program.  AB Mobility provides Anheuser-Busch wholesalers with a complete software and mobile computer system for sales and delivery operations.  The xTablet T8700 is the third generation of MobileDemand rugged xTablet Tablet PCs to be certified by AB Mobility, continuing its tradition of providing superior customer service and Tablet PCs that withstand the harsh environment of beer sales and delivery. 

MobileDemand has several thousand rugged Tablet PCs installed at beer wholesalers nationwide with the majority of them being Anheuser-Busch wholesalers.  Of all the industries we serve, we see the beer delivery operations take a tremendous toll on the mobile computers used by the sales / delivery field force!  When they are expected to make 6-12 stops per day, they use the xTablet Tablet PC as a tool to sell more beer and get it delivered fast and efficiently.  Viewed as a tool, they trust it to withstand repeated drops and bumps, liquid spills (soda, beer, Gatorade, etc.), rain, as well as hot and cold temperatures.

The original xTablet, the T8400, was first certified by AB Mobility in the fall of 2004.  After its successful implementation in dozens of beer wholesalers, MobileDemand followed suit with the launch of the xTablet T8600 model in September, 2006, which has far surpassed our initial T8400 sales and included direct installations with thirteen Anheuser-Busch owned wholesaler operations in the United States.  Today, MobileDemand is installed in roughly 200 beer wholesalers nationwide.

The certification of the xTablet T8700 model now brings an exciting new era to MobileDemand and its customers – not just in the beer industry.  The xTablet T8700 is the industries fastest performing Rugged Tablet PC, designed and built as a tool to get a particular mobile field worker’s job done.  It’s slate style, yet with a full integrated numeric keypad, lends its use as a data collection and work process device – not a full fledged laptop that is cumbersome and unwieldy on the road.

With this certification, MobileDemand is securing upgrade business to existing customers who originally purchased in 2004 and 2005 and are upgrading from previous generations of MobileDemand xTablet Tablet PCs.  It demonstrates that MobileDemand continues to release the right product and hold superior, personalized customer service to keep these customers coming back for their next purchase of rugged Tablet PCs.  It is the only slate style Rugged Tablet PC certified by AB Mobility.  See this video below or follow the link here to the Tablet PC used in a Beer Truck! video to see how the xTablet is used in and out of the vehicle cradle, mounted in a beer truck.