Motorola Mobile Office Has Barcode Reader

Written by Adam Gosling

Wednesday, 02 May 2007

More business focused than we are used to seeing from Motorola the MC35 is billed as an Enterprise Digital Assistant, which nealty keeps it from being tagged with the so uncool label PDA. PDAs are so last century and even devices that have adopted telephony capabilities have been forced to re-badge themselves as smartphones, blurring the distinction between what is a handheld computing device and a phone that does more than make calls. Motorola, which clearly comes from the phone side of the handheld devices revolution. That was until it acquired Symbol Technologies, maker of super-robust handheld computing devices. Symbol well known for its prowess in the warehouse, made an interesting addition to the Motorola skill set and the MC35 EDA is a direct manifestation of that part of the business. It forms part of a range that includes the MC50 and MC70. Motorola has just announced the MC 35 in Australia, pricing it at A$800 to A$940 (ex-GST) depending on configuration and carrier subsidies. However, the devices won't be available to order until late May. The company describes the MC35 Enterprise Digital Assistant (EDA) as "an all-in-one communication device" and it is certainly well equipped for work. Designed for the manufacturing, transportation, wholesale, retail, government, and healthcare industries, the MC35 is likely to find itself as part of the sales force, in field service, or maybe checking patient records. The ruggedised devices are specifically designed for campus deployment or to be sent out on the road. A such they come equipped with Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) capabilities, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GSM EDGE wireless data capabilities and voice (of course). On the feature list you will also find a camera and bar code reader. It is really design as a do it all. Users can talk, e-mail, connect to the Internet, use mission-critical business applications, and capture data (including signatures) with one, easy-to-use device for lower total-cost-of-ownership, says the Motorola announcement. Paul Blinkhorn, managing director of Australia and New Zealand for the enterprise mobility business, Motorola Networks & Enterprise said, "The addition of the MC35 to Motorola's family of EDAs demonstrates our commitment to enterprise mobility solutions. "Motorola's range of EDAs allow enterprises to connect their workforce to business-critical resources wherever they are, so they can make more informed decisions, increase productivity and efficiency, improve customer satisfaction, and gain a competitive edge," he says. The unit is powered by an Intel XScale processor (PXA270 operating at 416 MHz) and runs Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system. To help the device feel at home in the coproate IT department, Motorola has equipped the device with what it calls the Motorola Mobility Services Platform (MSP). This integrated solution provides centralised enterprise-wide management of mobile devices, mobile applications and wireless network infrastructure. WIth an emphasis on secure enterprise mobility management the MSp enables fast deployment; remote management to control applications, operating systems and firmware; and the ability to implement robust authentication and encryption security mechanisms. www.motorola.com Related news items Tiny Rugged UMPC WIth Vista -10/10/2007 Consumers Want FMC: Companies Don't See The Benefit -02/10/2007 Nokia Buys Map Company For US$8 Billion -02/10/2007 Seven In Unwired Takeover Bid -26/09/2007 Major Players To Test WiMAX Interoperability -26/09/2007 Newer news items Fujitsu Siemens To Give Up On PDAs -13/08/2007 HP Plans More iPaqs As PDAs Become Smartphones -12/08/2007 Older news items Q1 #2 -19/03/2007 HP Will Also Offer Draft n Notebooks -09/11/2006 Hard Times Are The Only Increase For PDA Makers -07/08/2006 O2 Beefs Up XDA Atom For Business Users -28/06/2006 Acer Plans PDA Phone, GPS Devices -04/06/2006 Tag This Now: