Rugged Tablets Save The Day When Consumer Tablets Fail

By Brian Albright, Field Technologies magazine

TCO (total cost of ownership) lesson learned: Going consumer-grade to save $1,000 per tablet doesn’t do much good with a failure rate of 80%.

Mobile computer selection has become a complex process for many field service and delivery companies. There is a wide range of devices to choose from — laptops, iPads, rugged tablets, smartphones, handheld computers — and each has its strengths and weaknesses. The right device depends entirely on the individual application.

Quite a few companies have successfully deployed consumer-grade devices for delivery and route sales systems, but many of these applications require more durable hardware. New Hampshirebased Great State Beverages, for example, quickly learned the value of rugged hardware when it briefly tested lessdurable tablet computers for its route sales solution.