Symbol Thinks Small With Latest Handhelds

Jason Lauder, business process manager at Blue Ivy Solutions, a Symbol partner and ISV in New Boston, N.H., said many of his customers got an early whiff of the MC1000 as it moved from the drawing board to the production line, and most were eager to get their hands on the new product immediately.

“Many of these customers were already using some other Symbol device, and they were looking for a lower-price-point, lighter-weight device,” Lauder said.

Blue Ivy, a member of Symbol&'s PartnerSelect ISV Program, designs and sells software that enables legacy mainframe computing environments to use wireless network extensions. The PartnerSelect ISV Program encourages software developers to wrap added functionality around Symbol&'s product line.

The MC1000 series was created for smaller companies that were interested in the Symbol devices but found past price points to be prohibitive, Chellis said. “We want SMBs to take advantage of our technology without crippling them with a tremendous investment,” he said. “And if you look at small companies that have delivery routes, like vending machine companies, there is a significant requirement for a ruggedized scanning product that is sealed from dust and moisture.”

The lower price of the MC1000 also gives Symbol a weapon to fight back advances from Casio and Intermec, two vendors that have been taking advantage of Symbol&'s absence in the low-cost mobile scanning market, Chellis said.

The MC1000 provides the ability to accurately scan and enter data when performing inventory management, stock-checking activities or order delivery, said Chellis. Within its water-resistant casing, the MC1000 houses an easily upgradable memory capacity and wireless capabilities, all running atop a common Windows-based operating system, Windows CE. An improved ergonomic design reduces the stress of handling the device over extended periods of time, he said.

Chellis said Symbol plans to tie the MC1000 product line into its PartnerSelect ISV efforts, and it is backing up the new product series with support services from its Global Services Division.

There are two support programs for the new device—Service Center Support Bronze and Service from the Start Bronze. Both offer standard and premium support packages that include live phone-based technical support options and three-day turnaround time for product repairs, among other things.