November 2015

Strategy Analytics: Windows gaining on tablets
Strategy Analytics projects that Windows will gain significant market share in tablets as enterprise tablet adoption and the demand for a premium OS on tablets grows. Strategy Analytics sees Windows tablet market share grow from the current 10% to 18% by 2019, mostly at the cost of Android which will fall from 68% to 58%, with iOS share staying at around 23%. [See Strategy Analytics media release] -- Posted Sunday, November 29, 2015 by chb

Unitech announces the Android-based 7-inch TB120 tablet
Unitech announced the Android-based 7-inch IP65-sealed TB120 rugged tablet designed specifically for heavy-duty data entry. The TB120 weighs just 1.6 pounds, has an integrated 37-key numeric and function keypad, and can be equipped with industrial-grade 1D or 1D/2D barcode readers or an MSR reader. [See description, analysis and specs of the Unitech TB120] -- Posted Thursday, November 19, 2015 by chb

MobileDemand brings apps to rugged Tablet PCs
MobileDemand introduced xSalesMap, the first app created by MobileDemand as part of a new strategy to offer not only devices but also productivity tools so an enterprise can choose the right tablet for the job. In its "public" mode, the app shows the top 1,000 public and 250 private companies in the US in color-coded pin locations. A private mode provides access to a company's customer database. This way, as an example, a sales and marketing team may use their CRM database to display color-coded pins for leads, customers, and prospects that make up the sales funnel. The Windows 10 app can be downloaded free from the Windows store. [MobileDemand xSalesMap app blog entry] -- Posted Tuesday, November 17, 2015 by chb

Xplore reports their fiscal Q2/2016 financials
Xplore Technologies reported Q2 financials for its fiscal year 2016. Revenue was US$28,853,000 compared to US$7,522,000 for fiscal Q2/2015, an increase of 284%. Xplore reported a net income of US$403,000 compared to a net loss of US$1,163,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2014. The large revenue increases resulted from revenue associated with the Motion acquisition as well as an increase in revenue from Xplore’s historical product line. Xplore chairman and CEO Philip Sassower said "we are very pleased that Xplore was able to generate a bottom line profit in the second quarter as our integration efforts with respect to the Motion Acquisition are proceeding ahead of schedule." [See Xplore media release] -- Posted Friday, November 13, 2015 by chb

Xplore announces XSlate D10 rugged Android tablet
Xplore Technologies announced the XSlate D10, a much more powerful version of its compact, lightweight, and well-connected rugged Android tablet platform. The new 10.1-inch XSlate D10 runs Android 5.1 (Lollipop) on an Intel Bay Trail E3845 chip and replaces Xplore's older RangerX. The IP65-sealed XSlate D10, which starts at US$1,649, can handle 5-foot drops, offers broad expansion options (including NFC, HDMI-in, 1D/2D scanning, 4G LTE), and benefits from Android 5.1's enterprise-oriented security and device management features. [See description, analysis and specs of the Xplore XSlate D10] -- Posted Tuesday, November 10, 2015 by chb

Panasonic announces fully detachable rugged 2-in-1 Toughbook 20 as replacement of Toughbook 19 convertible
Panasonic announced the Toughbook 20, a 2-in-1 device that the company calls the world's first fully rugged detachable laptop. Powered by an Intel Core M "Skylake-Y" m5-6Y57 processor, the IP65-sealed Toughbook has a 1920 x 1200 pixel 10.1-inch glove-capable 800-nits procap display. The tablet part weighs 2.1 pounds, the (100%-scale) keyboard part, which can accommodate a second battery, another 1.8 pounds. The Toughbook 20 starts at US$3,099, will be available February 2016, and replaces the Toughbook CF19 convertible. [See description, analysis and specs of the Panasonic Toughbook 20] -- Posted Monday, November 9, 2015 by chb

Digitimes Research forecasts Q4 2015 tablet shipments
According to Digitimes, 58.7 million tablets will ship globally in Q4 2015, decreasing 22.6% from Q4 2014. This breaks down to 14 million iPads, 24.5 million non-iPads and 20.2 million white-box units. Of 38.5 million non-white-box tablets, 30.3% will be 7-inch, 18.3% 7.9-inch, 5.3% 8.x-inch, 26.2% 9.x-inch, 10.6% 10.x-inch and 9.2% 11-inch and above. Android, iOS and Windows models will respectively take up 56.8%, 36.4% and 6.9% of the shipments. -- Posted Wednesday, November 4, 2015 by chb

The difference between C1D2 vs C1Z2 compliance
Xplore discussed the difference between C1D2 and C1Z2 compliance in a recent blog post. C1D2 means Class 1 Division 2 means a device is safe to use in a location where flammable gases may exist. Most international Hazardous Location compliance standards, however, use a classification system with three zones instead of two divisions, and the US is now recognizing that system, too. [See Xplore's explanation of C1D2 vs. C1Z2 in rugged tablets -- Posted Wednesday, November 4, 2015 by chb