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 in to 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 PC 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 company Tablet PC blog at http://www.RuggedTabletPC.com/blog.

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

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 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.tabletpc.tv/2008/11/tablet-pc-used-in-sales-delivery-for-beer-beverage-industry/feed/ 0 http://www.tabletpc.tv/2008/09/tablet-pc-for-retail/ http://www.tabletpc.tv/2008/09/tablet-pc-for-retail/#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:38:22 +0000 Matt Miller http://www.tabletpc.tv/2008/09/tablet-pc-for-retail/

MobileDemand has released a Tablet PC case study video demonstrating use of the xTablet in a retail environment, specifically a large grocery “chain”.  The rugged xTablet Tablet PC is now installed in over 550 independent grocery stores in the Affiliated Foods Midwest market area of 12 Midwestern states.  Affiliated Foods Midwest (AFM), based out of Norfolk, Nebraska, is a cooperative owned entirely by its independent grocers who wanted to streamline their order entry process, improve efficiency, and as a result, improve their bottom line.

In October, 2006, AFM turned to MobileDemand as a partner to provide the rugged xTablet to their 850 stores.  AFM has written their own custom order entry software intended for the full screen, standard Windows compatible Tablet PC.  The software, combined with the large screen and full PC compatibility of the Tablet PC, gives the AFM store and department managers the ability to make key operational decisions at the point of when they need it most – when the department manager is ordering and standing in his/her aisle and shelf set.

“Since the Tablet PC is a full-function computer, we’re able to process the information when the order is being taken,” said Vic Ching, Chief Information Officer for AFM. “It basically gives us the freedom to roam within the retail space and process the Affiliated Foods Midwest information in a much more efficient manner. It consolidates multiple steps into one, and it gives our retailers the information in a timely manner so they can make the right ordering decision.”

The xTablet is unique in that it has an integrated numeric keypad and an 800×600 resolution screen.

“These characteristics really put the xTablet over and above the other options,” said Ching. “We have previously looked at handheld PDA units, but the real estate on the screen was just too small. And being in retail, we deal with numbers all the time, so having a keypad is really an integral part in establishing a user friendly program.”

For more videos about Tablet PC computers, check out the MobileDemand Tablet PC YouTube Channel.

Wanna Bet, ABC, Tune in on Tuesday evenings, 8pm Central on ABC to watch the new show Wanna Bet? as you will see the MobileDemand xTablet Tablet PC used by the celebrity panel to record their bets on the success or failure of the wildest tricks and mental challenges that ordinary Americans — housewives, truck drivers, dentists — can dream up and perform in front of a studio audience. Wanna Bet? is executive-produced by Phil Gurin (The Singing Bee, Weakest Link) and Marc Jansen (Lingo) from The Gurin Co.  The middle picture above shows Tom Bergeron – from  Dancing with Stars & America’s Funniest Home Videos and Melissa Peterman – Comedienne using the Tablet PCs to record their bets.

Rock the Cradle, MTV, aired in April and May, 2008 – again the Tablet PC is used by judges on the set to score contestants via wireless transmission.  See the picture above of Belinda Carlisle (judge) with the xTablet Tablet PC computer sitting next to her on the end table.

See a variety of pictures here of the xTablet Tablet PC being used by the celebrity panels for Wanna Bet? and Rock the Cradle on this MobileDemand blog.

War, Inc. – The MobileDemand xTablet appeared in many scenes in the arms of Joan Cusack, who runs a "war" trade show in this parody about outsourcing war.

Narnia – Prince Caspian – We have partnered with a company by the name of HDR-CAM who provides lighting calibration systems used for computer generated graphics for movie sets.  Our tablets were used on the set in New Zealand during the filming of Narnia -  Prince Caspien by Disney.

Google visited MobileDemand the last week of June to tape a success story video about how we use Google AdWords in our marketing efforts.  The video was posted on YouTube recently and should on the AdWords site soon.  This supplements the Google Success Story case study (printed) they did on MobileDemand in October, 2007.

The Tablet PC by MobileDemand is highlighted in an advertisement by 3M. It shows how MobileDemand uses the 3M brand Vikuiti Tablet PC screen protectors.

See the Google Video about MobileDemand here on YouTube:

MobileDemand and Tablet PC – A Google Success Story

Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, California – The xTablet Tablet PC is used by audio and set production specialists to control audio system at the concert / entertainment venue during the summer of 2008. Special thanks to Linda Epstein with www.TabletPC2.com for her assistance.