Overview of the growth of the Tablet Market, ruggedized and commercial tablets and exploring the need for extremely modular and upgradable tablets. Takeaways: Reduced Technology Obsolescence, Lower Cost, Faster To Market, Customized to End Users Needs, Maximizes Application Software Features. Table of Contents: Introduction 3 Death of the PC 4 Rise of the Tablet Market 5 Consumer Market 9 Ruggedized Market 10 Rugged & Commercial 11 Time to Market 14 Modular: The Tablet Evolved 17 Example Modules & Options 19 Prospective Markets 20 Airline Use Case: Odem™ Core 21 Flight Crew 22 Flight Attendants 23 In-Flight Entertainment 24 Ticket Counter Check-In 25 Gate Agents 26 Private Club 27 Maintenance 28 Ground Support 29 Summary & Conclusions 30 References 32 About the Authors 33 About Pepperwood Partners 35
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This white paper discusses the fast growing Tablet PC market and presents the case for a relatively unexplored new market segment – that for an extremely modular Tablet PC design that can be quickly augmented / upgraded / updated with specialized features such as sensors, special electronics, additional processors, GPUs, memory, communications devices, etc.
Included are both general industry background and analysis, as well as speculative and forward looking statements regarding market prospects for the odem™ Extremely Modular Tablet PC from Entegra Technologies.
The much heralded “Death of the PC” has been proclaimed by many analysts. IDC and Gartner report that PC shipments fell in Q3 2012 more than 8% from a year earlier,1 and 4.9% in Q4.2 On the other hand, the industry moved 350 million units in 2012.3
Many blame tablets, mobile and other factors. Other factors include the success of the PC platform itself – that even 5-7 year-old PC’s are often “good enough” for casual consumers who mostly browse the internet, do social media like Facebook or Pinterest and watch default-resolution YouTube videos.
Gordon Moore, Intel co-founder postulated that the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles about every two years. This is often generalized as “computing power” doubles roughly every 18-24 months.Old processors are still OK for everyday use
While growth rate of traditional PC sales have flatlined, Tablet sales are rising fast.
The rapid growth of the consumer-grade tablet market is led by Apple, with a bevy of competitors running versions of Microsoft Windows, Google Chrome, Linux, Android and other Operating systems.
Comparing tablet sales to Notebooks, Business Insider projects4 a 64% growth for tablets -vs- a 5% decline for notebooks.
NOTE: Growth in tablets has also impacted sales of printers and print media. Morgan Stanley reports that 42% of tablet owners plan to cancel subscriptions to print newspapers.5 Figure 1: Global Tablet, Notebook & PC sales Forecast (IDC, Morgan Stanley) 6
The “Rugged” or “Ruggedized” market segment grew by 30.1% over the year-ago-quarter, experiencing double-digit growth across all regions.9
Meanwhile, in 2012 there was significant consolidation in the more general category of “rugged mobile” with Motorola Solution’s acquisition of PSION10 and Honeywell’s acquisition of Intermec.11
The ruggedized market is under pressure from the dramatic growth in consumer tablets and their increasing commoditization.
The availability of cheap consumer tablets encourages experimentation on the part of commercial / industrial users.
While on the one hand this may diminish demand for traditional rugged products, it also has the effect of validating the market for portable hand held computing devices.
To build a Commercial-Grade and/or Ruggedized tablet, you generally Start with “today’s” technology or technology standards, and engineer it to become the desired product.
…but, this process takes 12-18 months. In today’s technology cycle, that means the product that started-out being based on current technology is a generation or two obsolete by the time the “New” ruggedized or commercial version is available.
The need for sturdy and even rugged tablets for commercial, industrial and military purposes is clear. Fragile consumer-grade equipment may be technologically advanced, but broken is broken.
12-18 MONTHS = TOO LONG.There is a
growing need for a solution with custom
options & capabilities, is sturdy enough, upgradable, and
isn’t obsolete
6-9 Months:Engineering Validation &
Test
6-9 Months:Design
Verification & Test
PRODUCT 12-18
MONTHS OBSOLETE
Starting with “today’s technology” to produce a custom/rugged Tablet:
“New” Rugged / Custom TabletIs based on 12-18 month-old tech:
The extremely modular tablet is aimed at markets where consumer-grade or simply rugged equipment is unsuitable, and a more upgradable, updatable and expandable solution is needed.
The slides that follow describe a use case for Airlines.
Functions:• Reduce paper to one backup set per plane• Pilot pre-flight check-in & planning• Flight Plan, Flight Manual, Operating Manual• Jeppesen and Luthansa Lido flight data• Controlled migration from Class 1 to Class 2
without equipment change• Flight Deck Smart Dock Station
• Additional processing & memory for own ship real-time navigation (fast refresh)
• Virus Protection / Firewall• Certified Interface Protection Device• Access to Gate Wi-Fi, ACARS, Iridium, 3G• Synchs tablet to multiple aircraft type• M2M – Aircraft to Flight Ops – updates tablet upon docking with aircraft
Flight CrewFLIGHT CREWTablet w/ Smart Dock & Desktop Dock
Extreme modularity is the new disruptive innovation that will allow commercial and military users to transcend technology advancements without having to replace the entire computing device – Adaptable, Flexible, Upgradable
Cost effective and rapid incremental end user specific technology upgrades will now be possible with the modular open hardware designs coming to market
In the not too distant future, upgrading the processor in your tablet computer will be as simple as replacing a postage stamp size component on the main logic board
In the end, companies need a tablet that fits in the undefined “white space” between consumer and ruggedized tablets that focuses on lower price, smaller size, less weight, increased modularity, and longer useful life.
Steve Carpenter is President and CEO of entegra technologies, with 36 years experience building global organizations in information technology services, healthcare technology services, customer relationship management, financial services, and retail media with companies including Affiliated Computer Services, ActionSystems, and MediaCart. Contact Steve at [email protected], and www.linkedin.com/in/stephencarpenter.
Patrick Seaman is Chief Technology Advisor to Pepperwood Partners and COO of the social publishing platform company WhichBox Media. Seaman is the former COO of the video eCommerce company Cinsay, and former Director of Technology at Broadcast.com. Patrick serves on the Advisory Board of Kraftwurx Inc, and Qples, Inc. and on the UT Dallas School of Natural Sciences & Mathematics Advisory Council, and is an IEEE member. Contact Patrick at [email protected], [email protected] and www.linkedin.com/in/patrickseaman/.
Pepperwood Partners is a boutique investment banking advisory firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Pepperwood provides a suite of investment banking advisory services to businesses in the technology, media, telecom, nanotechnology, energy and alternative asset sectors. With a strong focus on institutional relationships in the Russian, European, and CIS regions, Pepperwood works with businesses to achieve capitalization and growth objectives.
Two Lincoln Centre5420 LBJ Freeway, Suite 535Dallas, Texas 75240 USA+1 [email protected]