Brother Mobile Solutions Tuesday officially unveiled a new partner program for its mobile device resellers.
The program is centered on two products that use thermal imaging technology -- PocketJet full-page mobile printers and MPrint small-format mobile printers.
The Brother PocketJet was formerly named the Pentax PocketJet 3 Plus. Brother acquired Pentax's mobile device division last year from Hoya.
PocketJet connects to various devices either through a USB cable, infrared or Bluetooth connection, and is mounted in vehicles. The printers are aimed at various sectors, such as field service, public safety, route accounting, utilities, health care, transportation, government and the military. Uses include printing citations, parking violations, work orders, repair estimates, maintenance reports, invoice collection receipts and delivery receipts.
MPrint mobile devices can be used with laptops such as the Panasonic Toughbook, and are used by field service workers to print repair reports, repair estimates, certified inspection sheets, up-to-the-minute business quotes, collection receipts, payment receipts, product information and work order confirmations.
Distributors include Blue Star, D&H, Synnex and Ingram Micro's Data Capture/POS division.
These mobile products are not new and have been traditionally sold through Brother Print resellers. So why is the company launching a completely separate program?
"We have seen organizations significantly increase the use of mobile and wireless technology to better serve their customers and enable their workers in the field," said David Crist, regional vice president of the Brother Mobile & Label Printer group (USA). "Brother saw an opportunity to package its mobile printer solutions and educate customers in select vertical markets on how it can help improve field workforce productivity, resulting in improved service profitability and customer service."
Crist said that Brother Mobile is actively recruiting partners, but on a selective basis. Resellers need to have experience with verticals such as local, state and federal governments, for example, to outfit police departments with the PocketJet.
Qualified resellers can take advantage of benefits, including access to mobile printing, scanning and label printer products, improved lead-generation programs that are managed and executed by Brother, and a limited time offer of free demo products.
"The role of the Brother Mobile Solutions Channel Partner Program is to enable its channel partners to bolster their businesses that serve these vertical markets and provide meaningful, cost-effective solutions with quick ROI to customer organizations of all sizes," Crist said.
Crist joined Brother in April. Prior to that, he was vice president of sales at Zebra, and also was vice president and general manager at Hewlett-Packard.
