25 Cool Consumer Gadgets That Matter To Business

They get the attention. They have the sex appeal. They're cool and everybody wants them.

They're digital electronics and tens of thousands of people flock to Las Vegas every year to pay homage to them in a pilgrimage known as the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). But what does this mean to the commercial information technology space, and what does it mean to solution providers? Customers talk about them. Techs play with them. You probably even want a bunch of them yourself.

While the consumer space seemingly gets to have all the cool toys, there can be digital electronics for business that solution providers can use to deliver value, make a profit and get people talking. The trick is to distinguish between what is merely eye candy and what can fulfill true business needs. To that end, CRN has taken a look at dozens of devices that could fit that bill. We've also looked at some devices that look nice but don't really sync up with what the channel does best: deliver value and solve business problems.

Along the way, we've developed a "Channel IT Quotient" that examines each device for business functionality, profit potential for solution providers, return on investment potential, cost of acquisition and "wow" factor. The devices are rated on a scale of 1 to 10. Yes, there are thousands of devices in the market and we haven't gotten to all of them. Yet. For now, here's some of what we've found.

SONOS WIRELESS SOUND SYSTEM

The Wireless Sonos Digital Music System is one of those devices that gives the music control freak inside a business -- and you know who you are -- control over the sound in every room inside a building. For solution providers whose customers range from dentists to real estate offices, attaching one of these to a total solution could endear you to the boss -- but cause you problems with the rest of the boss's staff who don't enjoy Barry Manilow and the Soft Sounds of the '70s.

Channel IT Quotient: 5

SONY XDCAM EX

Sony calls it an "HD Workflow Solution" (their words, not ours) so you know they're gunning for a higher-end, commercial sale. The Sony XDCAM EX is a lower-cost, higher-end HD camcorder that weighs in at 5 pounds, four ounces and is built 7 1/8 by 7 by 12 3/8 inches and lists for about $6,700. For content creators (professional or semi pro) the XDCAM Ex comes with a software editing package as well, making it a solution sale.

Channel IT Quotient: 8

SONY MYLO PERSONAL COMMUNICATOR

The device isn't just a cell phone, but it combines a slider keyboard, Wi-Fi connectivity, web browsing and integrated IM capabilities. If it's used by someone whose business or workgroup has standardized on AIM, for example, it could offer a nice productivity enhancement. It's also nice eye candy.

Channel IT Quotient: 4

VISIONEER ROAD WARRIOR SCANNER

Imagine a world where you're on the road, at some trade show or another, and you can take all of your receipts for out-of-pocket expenses, scan them, and upload them to your server at work. No mess, no fuss and you become the hero of the accounting pool for getting all of your expense sheets on time. Well, you don't have to just imagine it. With the Visioneer Warrior Scanner, a mobile workforce can be every bit as close to the document workflow as the workforce back in the office. It's listed at 10.6 ounces and scans at up to 600 dpi resolution, and can power up via USB port.

Channel IT Quotient: 8

ABACUS SMART WATCH

Remember Microsoft's SPOT Watch? Remember how Bill Gates made such a big deal about it at CES in 2005 and 2006? Yeah, we remember, too. Well, the Microsoft SPOT Watch as a platform hasn't really taken the direction the Redmond, Wash.-based company thought it might, but if you can still find an Abacus Smart Watch -- you can actually still subscribe and tweak your subscription on MSN as of this writing -- it might be worth another look. In addition, Garmin -- the GPS company that has a couple of its own items on this list -- is working with the SPOT watch people at Microsoft to provide some of its mobile mapping technology.

Channel IT Quotient: 2

LACIE EXTERNAL BLU RAY BURNER

For those who are fixated on backup capability, the LaCie External Blu Ray Burner is just the toy. The device can save up to 50 Gb of data on a single disc and combines a DVD/CD/Blu Ray Burner on a single drive. The devices list-price for as much as $800 and supplies are a little on the light side. But they hit a growing sweet spot in the IT space.

Channel IT Quotient: 9

THE BENDI BOARD

A cool device, but the solution provider may have to run through some contortions to throw a $20, electric blue, contort-able Bendi Board into the solution sale. If it's for a PC that is in view at a trendy nightclub, or some other business where fashion might be an issue it would be a decent addition, though.

Channel IT Quotient: 2

DELL TABLET PC

Why does the Latitude XT -- Dell's first entry into the tablet space -- qualify as a "business electronic device?" A combination of an "easy-to-view-outdoors" screen, capacitive-touch functionality and decent battery life make this fit (just barely) into that category. So if you trust Dell and their statements about their new channel program, and you are seeking to deliver a high-touch, touch system that can combine multimedia and business apps in one form factor, you may want to consider this device.

Channel IT Quotient: 5

THE IGO JUICE

Mobility Electronics provides this device as an easy stop to finding a compatible power cord for your notebook. The added bonus: While you're powered up on your notebook, the iGo Juice lets you power up and recharge your cell phone.

Channel IT Quotient: 6

GARMIN STREET PILOT I3

Garmin is working to stake out a leadership position in the PC-Electronics-GPS world, and offers a full lineup of both consumer and commercial navigation devices including the Street Pilot i3 -- which installs in an automobile and guides the vehicle's driver with a 32K Color, "sunlight readable" TFT Display. For the corporate driver prone to getting lost, the $299 list price could be made up quickly in eliminating wasted gas while riding around looking or that missed exit.

Channel IT Quotient: 6.5

SAMSUNG ULTRA Q1

As a PC, the keyboard is a little awkward and clunky but positioned as a "multimedia pocket PC," it flies. With a full-blown Microsoft XP operating system, it provides for true on-the-go access and productivity.

Channel IT Quotient: 5.5

SANDISK CRUZER MICRO USB FLASH DRIVE

This device looks like a typical USB thumb drive, until you realize that it not only allows you to carry data around in its flash memory but also software applications and even your desktop wallpaper.

Channel IT Quotient: 8

HP TOUCHMATE

It's not an all-in-one, but it's nearly an all-in-one with a 19-inch capacitive touch screen (which beat Dell to the market by almost a year), an integrated 1.3 MP webcam and microphone and full multimedia and Windows integration. As a work-home hybrid device, it works.

Channel IT Quotient: 7.5

GIGABYTE UMPC U60

The combination micro PC, PDA and smartphone runs a cool $920 (list price) and is built on a VIA C7-M ULV 770 1 GHz chip (the "ULV" stands for "Ultra Low Voltage.") Wi-Fi-enabled, the device provides for handwriting recognition in addition to Windows XP capabilities.

Channel IT Quotient: 6

SONY PRS-505

Sony's high-resolution e-book reader beat Amazon's Kindle to the market, but has had a difficult time winning the same type of attention as Amazon. The PRS-505 is spec'd out to hold 160 books, with a digital font that's easy on the eyes.

Channel IT Quotient: 4

APPLE TV

It's been out for about a year, and hasn't made the splash or impact of other Apple products. That's because of its limited functionality: Unless you're downloading movies or TV shows from iTunes or watching YouTube videos, content is limited. Pricing is not a dealbreaker and it does give solution providers an easy way to start a conversation with customers about additional multi-media solutions. Let's hope Apple does something to improve it.

Channel IT Quotient: 4

THE KILL A WATT

P3 International makes this Electricity Usage Monitor. No, it's not the kind of device you can use to impress a date (it plugs into a wall and measures watt usage of other electric devices). But it makes for either a good, cheap tool for solution providers to perform their own performance test on power consumption -- or a device the VAR can leave with a customer to play around with and decide which IT devices burn too much juice and could use an upgrade.

Channel IT Quotient: 7

WD MYBOOK WORLD EDITION II

This desktop device, made by Western Digital, comes with capacities of up to 2 Tb and supports RAID and remote access. It's also designed to look like a book. And it sells through the channel.

Channel IT Quotient: 7

WD PASSPORT

This is a USB storage device that's about the size of a smartphone and is built with meaty capacities of 160 GB and 320 GB. The drives can also be encrypted. In a world of 2 GB thumb drives, this bad boy is a monster.

Channel IT Quotient: 7

GARMIN NUVI 200

Part two of our look at Garmin GPS products comes in the way of the Garmin Nuvi 200. Unlike the StreetPilot i3, this unit can work independent of a car or truck and can guide you on a walking tour of a city street or an expansive area like a campus. When we saw it, we wanted it. It might be a tough sell to a cost-conscious SMB customer, but it doesn't make it any less desirable to gadget geeks.

Channel IT Quotient: 6

CHUMBY

Remember the days when a clock-radio on your desk was enough? The Chumby is a clock-radio for the Information Age: a cute, childlike, PC-based device that wirelessly streams real-time information from the Web into a small screen. It can play MP3s, stream Flickr or Facebook photos and provide up-to-the-minute stock prices and email on its hand-sized screen. It's also $179, hard to find at times and is more of an e-tail play than commercial IT.

Channel IT Quotient: 3. (It would have been 2, but gets an extra point for being so cute.)

THE IPHONE

We've talked about this previously in CRN. The iPhone is great and is the model of how technology should be deployed to make it end-user friendly. But it's not channel-friendly and, at least not yet, it's not business friendly. It's also still a little pricy. Best bet: wait for the second generation of iPhone and wait for developers to see what they can't build using the forthcoming SDK that Apple has promised.

Channel IT Quotient: 1

THE ZUNE

Well, it's got 80 Gb of storage, permits file sharing between devices and can play music and video. There are better devices for each one of these functions but Microsoft seeks to put them into a neat package. It's still the Ugly Duckling of cutting-edge electronics, but with list prices of $149 to $299 you and your customers could do worse.

Channel IT Quotient: 5

VIEWSONIC 4280LCDTV

It's 42 inches and its compatible with 1080p video. Yes, it makes a great digital signage solution; but it's also a channel-friendly digital electronics product that is market-priced anywhere from $1,400 to $1,700.

Channel IT Quotient: 10

AMAZON KINDLE

Amazon is not a channel company per se, so we're not recommending the Kindle. But it's worth keeping an eye on the success of this device, which not only holds e-books like its counterpart from Sony, it also automatically downloads content from blogs and selected web sites. Downside: It's not the prettiest girl at the dance, and at a list price of $399 we're not sure if it's got the personality to compensate.

Channel IT Quotient: 1