Symbol Targets Voice Solution Providers With New Enterprise Handheld

Unveiled at the International Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month in Las Vegas, the MC70 is a new genre of PDA that Symbol has designed to target a different type of customer than it has addressed in the past, said Mark Chellis, senior director of marketing for the Holtsville, N.Y.-based, company&'s mobile computing division.

What&'s new about the MC70, in comparison to its MC50 predecessor, is that it can be used as a voice device on cellular and 802.11a/b/g networks, and it supports Bluetooth, he said.

“The device works well with VoIP, which makes it a good investment because no matter what type of network you use, you have a wireless device that you can deploy globally,” he said.

The MC70&'s tri-band support for LANs, WANs and personal area networks (PANs) will make it an easy sell for mobile solution providers, said Jeff Lem, president of qData, a Symbol partner in Toronto. “It has a lot of upside potential for us because customers have been looking for a converged device with a rugged design and the functionality of a cell phone,” he said. “It also gets solution providers into the voice market and opens the door to new products and services that we could be selling.”

Weighing 12 ounces, the MC70 runs Windows Mobile 5.0 Phone Edition and features one-dimensional laser-scanning functionality for scan-intensive applications. The device comes with a battery designed for eight hours of continuous use, as well as either a 26-key numerical keypad or a 44-QWERTY keypad, Chellis said.

The MC70&'s rugged casing can withstand a four-foot drop to concrete and is moisture-resistant, making it appropriate for the health-care industry, which requires devices that can be cleaned with rubbing alcohol, Chellis said.

While the MC50 was designed for in-building use, the MC70 works in both indoor and outdoor environments, he added.

Chellis expects the MC70 to be used for applications such as workforce automation in the automotive, postal and government sectors. Symbol has already signed a large governmental postal delivery service that plans to purchase “tens of thousands” of the devices, he said.

Plans call for the MC70 to ship by the end of the month. Pricing begins at $2,195 for a model with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support. A model with support for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and cellular is priced at $2,845.