Price Released For The Tablet.

This should be interesting.

Panasonic Toughpad A1 and B1: the tablets you can drop and pick back up again -- Engadget

 

Thats not so bad. I was expecting something around 2 grand. Not that its cheap or anything, but its not that horrible.

 

The smaller B1 should be pretty neat.

 

Does it run windows and have a serial port?

 

Nope and nope. Android and USB (Prob Mini or Micro).

 

I wish they would make one that would handle Windows Mobile at least.

 

I'm pretty damn sure that the smaller one will be the one that sells.

Panasonic is trying to suite everyones needs and I truly feel that they goofed here! This is a niche market and I KNOW that no one will buy the bigger clunky one... (At least I know I wouldn't)

I'm going to open up a pole thread here and see what we think.

 

Do I smell another tattoo coming??

 

It's an awfully big niche market though. However, I agree with John Gruber when he says that there's an iPad market, not really a tablet market - that's amply illustrated by the comparatively diminutive sales figures of the Galaxy Tab, the only one that even comes close to the iPad (and I'm talking sales, not shipped units that Samsung tends to refer to). Might change with the Kindle Fire, though.

Honeycomb is still in infant stages, and very immature. Would I prefer this over an iPad with proper protection (Otterbox of Griffin Survivor)? Probably not.

 

Meh - the Fire is just a rebranded Crackberry PlayBook; it's STILL too expensive for how crippled it is. As for this THING - it looks like they took my 7-year-old HP TC1100 and put a rubber bumper around it. WOW - Talk about trailing edge design! And even though it IS ruggedized... WAY too expensive for the niche. Y'All already know what I think of Android.

mnem
I'm staying away in droves.

 

I can see a lot of uses for these in service-type industries, leaving them with a lot more potential than a niche market. IMHO, the reason that you don't see the iPad filling this market currently is that they are difficult to integrate into a corporate structure and maintain any degree of security. It will be interesting to see how this device and Android stack up given Panasonic's long history catering to the corporate side rather than home users.

The other major drawback I see is how durable they will really be. Drop test- yada, yada, yada. What I see being the huge problem (and only time will tell) is how crack resistant the screen will be. There is a lot of interest in my company to equip our field users with a touchscreen tablet IF it will not result in IT replacing a half dozen screens (or whole devices) per day. And by field users, I mean literally out in the dirt, rain, etc. rather than simply unchained from a desk.

The price is a little higher than I expected, but Panny's suggested retail always is. Volume discounts will undoubtedly be better. And honestly, buying one device at $1299 is cheaper than two or three at $399 when you factor in lost productivity and IT time. Total cost of ownership is a bigger deal to corporate America than initial purchase cost. It is also the hardest to predict forcing you to make assumptions that they really will survive well enough and long enough to pay for themselves.

Personally I am still trying to talk my way into a demo unit through my company rather than buy my own.

 

Someone is seriously addicted to the internet, Toughbooks, or both to even think of this! This intervention is for your own good, trust me. Put down the Toughbook and slowly step back. Oh and please put a towel on......

 

I wish this method would work for me

 

Heck, I take my iPhone in the shower all the time to listen to my audio book or to stare at Rob's cannon's and tat