You Asked, We Answered: Four Questions About The Current Rugged Mobility Reboot

By Cliff Adams, Xplore

Rugged mobility is getting a reboot and, on June 27, long-time mobility Solutions Architect Rob Karsch of Xplore Technologies joined me and Field Technologies Online for a  discussion about what this means for organizations with field-based workforces – including those whose “field” workers are actually assigned within the four walls of a plant or warehouse.

Rugged mobility devices have been on a linear improvement path for quite a while despite the introduction of consumer tablets (more on that later), but recently there has been an inflection point which is driving bigger changes. I have been defining and developing rugged mobility solutions for about 10 years, and Rob has been on the front lines deploying rugged mobility solutions at customer sites for 17 years as an Xplore Solutions Architect. (And speaking of front lines, Rob served as a police officer for a couple of decades before joining Xplore.)

There are actually 2 inflection points :

1. The fast gains Android is earning in handhelds; and
2. The need for a 2-in-1 tablet for a segment of field workers. Not a notebook, convertible, or slate with a wonky keyboard, but a true 2-in-1 that looks indistinguishable from a notebook with the keyboard in use, and indistinguishable from a slate when standing and working.

I encourage you to take a look at the  webinar replay for these reasons, especially with audio on. We addressed a few very interesting questions regarding these two mobility shifts that will likely be relevant to your business, and our responses were spoken, not shown in slides.