Panasonic announced this week that it will soon offer a Toughbook line Android-based tablet.
According to a press release from yesterday, Rance Poehler, president of Panasonic was quoted as saying “Enterprise customers are very interested in the tablet market, but have been frustrated by the lack of appropriate solutions.”
“The vast majority of tablet devices—regardless of the OS—are engineered for consumers and don’t offer appropriate levels of security and durability or the functionality needed for business use. Like all Toughbook products, our Toughbook tablet will be designed and constructed with the mission-critical mobile user in mind.”
Well there is no ambiguity in who Panasonic is trying target for this product. The question I have is, “Will the demand really be there when this tablet becomes available?” White collar tablet users typically wouldn’t need a “rugged-ready” tablet, as they wouldn’t us it in a rugged environment. Besides, sales numbers clearly indicate that iPad reigns supreme in tablet demand. The recent iPad 2 release only solidified that.
When it comes to gray and blue collar users, how many of them will want to have to clean their screen multiple times a day? As tablets are touch-screen interactive, I would think that the screen is going to get pretty roughed-up by users on construction sites, government employees and field workers, etc.
As a result, it appears that this will likely be a dud. What do you think? Will a Toughbook tablet really take off?
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