Motion Computing To Offer BTO Tablet PC To Channel

Several vendors will start offering Tablet PCs following Microsoft's expected unveiling of the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Nov. 7.

One of those vendors stands out because its Tablet PCs will arrive at solution provider customers' sites with a Taiwan postmark.

Motion Computing, based here, is coming to market using a build-to-order model under which solution providers can place an order online and expect the system to arrive five or six working days later direct from Taiwan, said Ralph Spagnola, vice president of sales.

Motion Computing teamed with Compal Electronics, the Taiwan-based builder of portable PCs for nearly every major vendor and currently the world's largest manufacturer of notebook PCs, in an effort to shorten the supply chain.

Once an order is placed online, it is transmitted to Compal where the Tablet PC is configured and shipped via Federal Express to the customer or its solution provider within six working days, said Spagnola. He said the cost of the product with shipping will be competitive with similar systems shipped from U.S.-based manufacturers.

Spagnola expects about 80 percent of his company's Tablet PCs to go through solution providers, especially those that primarily target such verticals as health care, field sales, insurance, higher education and government. "The key reason is that VARs will be adding software and/or services to meet the needs of vertical customers," he said.

Because of Motion Computing's build-to-order model, the company will not work with distributors, said Spagnola. However, it will have a Web site where consumers can order Tablet PCs direct, he said.

Motion Computing is going for what Spagnola called the "ultra mobile notebook" market. Its Tablet PC, designed to be held in one hand like a slate, weighs slightly less than 3 pounds, but has a 12.1-inch LCD display. "Most others have a 10.4-inch display," he said. "For the pure slate style, we're the only one with 12.1 inches."

Orders can be placed starting Nov. 7, with volume shipping expected to start the first week of December, Spagnola said.

Motion Computing was founded in August 2001 by a number of former Dell Computer executives. In August 2002, the company secured $6.5 million in funding from a number of investors, the largest of which was Compal. Spagnola refused to disclose how much Compal invested in the company.