Executive Insight: The Next Generation Of Rugged Handheld Devices Will Run Genuine Windows® 7

By Dan Diliberti, business development manager, Panasonic Solutions Company

Countless businesses that deploy handheld computers leverage Windows® Mobile as their operating system of choice. With Windows Mobile entering end-of-life in late 2010 — likely to be replaced by the new, consumer-oriented Mobile® 7 OS — IT managers supporting handheld devices will soon need to decide if they want to continue deploying reduced feature-set solutions or invest in a solution that runs a full OS.

As the need to share more complex data in real time grows, this decision will be a critical one for an enterprise's future success. Because of this, we recommend IT managers evaluate handheld solutions that run Windows 7.