Psion Teklogix Inc. expects to meet or exceed sales of its flagship product with two new agreements that make it available to VARs and resellers through distribution in North America for the first time.
“”Today is a new day in mobility for Psion Teklogix,”” said Rob Douglas, president, Americas,
Psion Teklogix. “”We’re bringing to the shores in North America the next generation of the most successful product of our company,”” the Workabout.
He added Psion Teklogix has sold hundreds of thousands of Workabout devices in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
The Mississauga, Ont.-based mobile computing provider signed deals last month with Tech Data Corp. and EMJ Data Systems to distribute the new Workabout Pro and Netbook Pro hand-held mobile computing devices to VARs and resellers in the U.S. and Canada respectively. Prior to this announcement, Psion Teklogix only had two VARs in North America who were licensed to sell the products.
Workabout was available in North America previously but not widely distributed, said Douglas, because it ran on a European operating system called EPOC that North American VARs didn’t want to sell. The Workabout Pro now runs on Microsoft Windows CE operating platform.
Kevin Rowe, product manager at EMJ, said before the deal the distributor didn’t carry any products in the semi-rugged category.
“”(Workabout Pro and Netbook Pro) are different than any other products in that space,”” said Rowe, who expected the first shipment to be ready to go out to customers Oct. 1. “”It bridges the gap between a PDA and full-sized notebook. It’s great for field service and retail where the manager needs a screen size of 600 by 800 (pixels). It’s not going to be someone doing direct store delivery.””
The recent EMJ/Synnex merger will not affect the sale of the products: EMJ remains a separate unit within of Synnex, and it will have sole responsibility for them. EMJ has between 50 to 60 reps who will be dealing with VARs across the country. It is also responsible for promoting the product in addition to Web ads.
Psion Teklogix chose to work with EMJ because of its core competence and ability to provide hardware and software kits that allow VARs to customize the device for different industries.
“”This is the Swiss Army Knife of handhelds,”” said Douglas, adding that VARs have access to the electrical and mechanical design of the product as well as a software development kit that allows them to build software apps on the device.
Rowe said partners are encouraged to take the product apart and customize it.
“”If a VAR comes up with a solution and submits it into Psion, (the product) is still under warranty,”” he said. “”Most other vendors are leery about VARs customizing their products.””
Rowe also likes the fact that because Psion Teklogix is a Cisco Systems partner its products are complementary to Cisco’s wireless products, creating an opportunity to bundle the products together as an offering.
VARs can take these products into many types of industries to solve wireless enablement requirements, including RFID, said Douglas.
The Work-about is already being sold as an RFID handheld in Europe. “”When you look at changing technologies in RFID, this is an ideal platform to be able to evolve as technology evolves,”” said Douglas.