Selling 'grab and go' appeal
Demand is growing among SMEs for a device that offers better accessibility to data, but is smaller than a notebook. Some remain to be convinced that ultra-mobile PCs offer what they are looking for, writes Mark Dye in the fourth of our five-part series
Much has been made of the market for ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs), most notably by the vendors pushing them. And yet with a buoyant market for laptops, notebooks and PDAs, questions have been raised as to whether or not users are ready for a 800gm, 7in, touchscreen PC retailing at about £700.
The UMPC is being pushed by the likes of Intel and Microsoft, and there is reportedly a market for up to 7.8 million units being sold by 2011, according to analysts at In-Stat. However, much will depend on manufacturers solving connectivity issues, vendors offering competitive packages and the emergence of new wireless technologies that will give users access to data regardless of their location.
Much will also depend on resellers. But if the figures are to be believed, a concerted effort could see device makers selling 200,000 units in 2007.
That said, UMPCs have not quite got off to the start that those pushing the device might have expected. Earlier in the year demonstrations of Samsung’s offering, the Q1, made the wrong kind of waves at a news conference in Seoul, where reports from the Korea Times suggested senior executives had problems operating the device. Those paying a premium for UMPCs will be expecting better.
Microsoft specifies that the UMPC is a flat, hand-held device halfway between a smartphone or PDA and a notebook PC in size. It also has a touch-sensitive screen, rather than a keyboard. Other features include an internal hard drive, wireless internet connectivity, Bluetooth and a version of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. With hard drives varying between 30GB and 60GB, battery life for the early models is estimated at two-and-a-half hours.
Among the key challenges for those selling to SMEs will be to convince them that usability, pricing and battery life is competitive against notebook PCs.
To date, there has not been broad adoption and the new technology is largely considered as unproven and expensive, according to Clive Longbottom, service director at Quocirca.
Certainly, any users with a need for fieldwork could use UMPCs, he says, but there are many issues that need to be addressed first.
“For example, UMPCs don’t have good battery life, so need to be constantly recharged and will need cradles that the device can be easily slid into, like most PDAs and mobile phones,” he says.
Longbottom adds that UMPCs are not just small laptops. The small screen area means that things such as text have to be presented in a large enough font to be read. This means existing web pages are not always useful for presenting information to the general public, which can be a problem where field forces are trying to impress through the use of new technology. Resellers must bear this in mind and be prepared to answer questions when attempting to sell the product into SMEs.
In an ideal world, Longbottom says, estate agents would use a UMPC to give prospective buyers 3D photography and walk-throughs, using the combination of local power, form factor and capabilities to the best advantage.
Shawn Chang, product manager at vendor Asus, agrees. Chang says UMPCs should be applicable to various businesses. For estate agents, this includes giving not only details of the property, but also in taking advantage of the global positioning service (GPS) function to provide local information for customers.
“Lawyers or even police who used to use PDAs can switch to UMPCs,” he says. “The camera function on a UMPC offers users the option to take a picture of the incident and the fact that there is built-in Bluetooth means it can be linked to most other devices.”
Longbottom feels that the UMPC also offers benefits to those in the car trade, where video collateral provided by the car vendor can show a model in its best light in varied environments, different colours, styles and finishes. Here, video on the forecourt would allow potential buyers to view the car being put through its paces under different weather conditions unobtainable on a test drive around town during rush hour.
However, one of the main sticking points here is that this might just as easily be done using the conventional desktop, situated only a few yards away in the office, Longbottom adds.
“Selling UMPCs becomes difficult because we’re looking at something that costs more than a reasonable desktop, has a lot of constraints around keyboard usage and screen size and has lower battery life than a PDA,” he says.
Glyn Evans, TabletKiosk UK Agent at PocketPC Solutions, says the company has received a number of enquiries for its TabletKiosk range from businesses in the hospitality industry, a couple of major car manufacturers, schools, software developers currently using tablet PCs and manufacturing firms. However, Evans believes that most seem to be evaluating these devices and as yet have not committed to the technology in the UK, although this will only be a matter of time. Meanwhile, in the US, major companies are already integrating these devices into their solutions.
“We have had a number of companies buy the UMPC to integrate into portable x-ray machines and engineering companies looking to replace aging tablet PCs with large numbers of UMPCs,” Evans says. “Most appear to be evaluating them to run bespoke software, or to replace large numbers of tablet PCs cost effectively.”
Stuart Watson, product manager at VIP Computers, an Asus distributor, says: “We’ve seen interest from the construction industry, estate agencies and VARs supplying into the public sector, especially higher education establishments.”
Samsung says that it is working closely on a variety of solution-based offerings for its UMPC offering, the Q1. These range from an in-car satellite navigation tool for taxis, to revolutionising the education market with one-to-one access for hand-held learning.
Adam Jubb, head of IT marketing at Samsung Electronics UK, says current feedback indicates that early adopters have been the most enthusiastic to embrace the technology, with a surge of interest coming from those in finance, legal and service organisations, which benefit from the UMPC’s form factor.
“This is now being used as a replacement for traditional tablet devices and encourages a whole new set of usage models, for business and pleasure, outside the office or home,” he says.
Although the UMPC is still at the early stage in its lifecycle, resellers already have lots of enquiries and sales are doing well, according to Chang.
“The main challenges are that it is still at its early adopter stage. A lot of people haven’t actually seen the product, or they haven’t had actual experience of using it,” he says. “Therefore, they try to expose the product to maximum audience so that they have an idea how it would look and how it feels like to use them.”
Watson says: “It is very early days, but it’s clear that most end-users that have expressed an interest in UMPCs are looking for a combination of easy portability, wireless connectivity and durability. Features such as the built-in camera and fingerprint security that are available with the Asus version are also making the device more compelling.”
Resellers who fully understand the product will be the ones that find it easier to encourage SMEs to adopt the UMPC.
A good way of doing this, according to Watson, is to start by using the UMPC and, if possible, investing in one or work with a vendor to secure a sample. This will enable resellers to identify who might benefit from such a device.
“Not everyone will need a UMPC,” he says. “But it’s easy to imagine that any company with a mobile workforce currently using two devices such as a notebook plus GPS, or a notebook plus PDA, might get some benefit and cost-saving from a combined device.
“At this stage, few people have seen one in action so they can’t imagine putting one into use. SMEs that I have spoken to recognise the importance of making a sample unit available and creating some case studies. Both will be vital in illustrating the potential benefits to their customers.”
Jubb agrees, confirming that resellers have been buying or arranging for evaluation units to experience the technology first hand.
“Once there is awareness of the full potential of the unit, sales opportunities increase in volume and it becomes a much easier sales proposition,” he says. “Another common way has been to create solutions around the product, be they either hardware based or software based.”
Although they have received mixed reactions because of the cost which, is close to a regular notebook (£700 to £800), UMPCs are still less expensive than tablet PCs and are more convenient for travelling.
According to Jubb, users are discovering that UMPCs are able to store and run the same software versions as PCs. They also have additional features, such as multimedia recording and playback, full-scale GPS tracking and mapping, large storage capacity and options that smartphones and PDAs manage poorly and with severe limitations.
“In some instances we are seeing the Q1 UMPC being used as a complementary device to more powerful desktop or laptop PCs where the user will use the UMPC on the move and synchronise their information on return to their office,” he adds.
“Other scenarios see the UMPC as the primary device for communicating and mobile working.”
Even so, Longbottom feels that in the beginning at least it will be tough to encourage more SMEs to adopt UMPCs, particularly if the technology is forced upon them rather than sold for the benefits it brings. He says they will be considered seriously by SMEs when there is more specific software, more ‘hardened’ UMPCs and more pull from the early adopter base.
He has other concerns too, most notably with the keyboard not being up to full usage as a typing machine, the screen and battery life not up to all day usage and handwriting recognition not up to that of a tablet PC.
The real challenge, he adds, lies in getting across what a UMPC actually is and how it differentiates from other form factors, something he thinks the channel is struggling to get over.
Evans maintains that the new 7in UMPC will prove a hit with consumers and businesses alike.
“Their size and price make them more attractive than the traditional tablet PC and as these devices run the full tablet operating system, the handwriting recognition and usability are the same, with only the reduced screen size causing a problem for some users and applications,” he says.
“Battery life is an issue for some at present, although there are extended batteries available for some models that give up to five hours of continuous usage.”
Chang says the battery life of a tablet PC or an average notebook that a sales person carries is about three to three-and-a-half hours if used continuously.
“R2H [the Asus UMPC offering] comes with two batteries, which if users charge them fully, will give them the same battery life for a whole day’s use,” he says.
“Normally people who look for mobility do not switch on the notebook or UMPC for a whole day; normally it is only at meetings with customers, or for other business purposes.”
With the market for PDAs being strong, Chang says the concept of the UMPC is to replace the PDA in the not too distant future, something which will be aided by vast improvements in capabilities: “For example, the handwriting recognition of a UMPC is much better than a PDA, so we believe UMPC usage will be big and just a matter of time, like all of the other innovative products.”
Longbottom says: “The future for it is as a hardened device for areas requiring a high amount of computer power in a small format for defined tasks: for example, warehouse staff needing to carry out stock actions against a fully radio frequency identification-enabled environment.”
However, Evans does not think so. “We firmly believe that 2007 will be the year the UMPC comes to life,” he says. “If you take the TabletKiosk eo i7200 series with its docking cradle and Intel mobile chip, add a monitor, mouse and keyboard, you really have a ‘grab and go’ PC and it is something that could replace a desktop or laptop for most people.”
Watson suspects unfair comparisons are being drawn with the tablet PC, which failed to become a mainstream product because of high prices and little differentiation between it and a notebook.
“The UMPC is a very different animal and is priced at the same level as a mid-range notebook,” he says.
“As an all-in-one device it has to make compromises on things such as battery life. But the fact that a wide range of SMEs are at least considering the UMPC as a solution for their portable PC requirements means it has significant potential.”
Meeting this potential will depend on each of the different vendors’ commitment to developing the technology for the UMPC in the coming months.