News Feature | September 22, 2014

Janam CEO Lerner Details New Mini-Tablet At VARTECH

jim roddy

By Jim Roddy, VP of Marketing, RSPA

Janam Mini-Tablet

One of the more interesting products I saw last week at VARTECH, the annual conference hosted by value-added distributor BlueStar, was Janam’s XT1 Rugged Mini-Tablet. Company CEO and co-founder Harry Lerner discussed it during a wireless breakout session at the show, and then I met with him near the busy Janam booth on the CodeZone expo floor.

Lerner told me the XT1 isn’t an iteration of a standard form factor. “We don’t follow the industry rule of ‘thou shalt fear phone companies,’” he said. “Too many manufacturers say to end users, ‘Here’s why a consumer device won’t work for you. It’s too sleek, too sexy, too elegant.’ We are packaging (this product) like the consumer folks and fitting it with what the enterprise needs.”

During his breakout session, Lerner told the resellers in attendance, “We should embrace what the phablet (phone plus tablet) and smart phone has to offer, not run from it.”

Lerner told me the plan when designing the XT1 was to understand “compromisable elements” while still making the device appealing aesthetically. “We had to understand from the end user’s perspective what they would say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to us changing and what they would compromise on. We have a fortified screen which they don’t have on consumer devices but enterprise users need — they won’t compromise on that. Enterprise users ask for a removable battery, but that would have made (the product) too thick. The user would rather have a thinner device than a removable battery, so they will compromise on that feature.”

One VAR who said he is battling consumer devices when trying to make sales asked during Lerner’s mobility presentation how this device could help him combat that objection. Lerner said the XT1’s price point is in the range of consumer devices so VARs don’t have to wrestle with prospects over TCO (total cost of ownership) of an enterprise device vs. a consumer product.

“We can’t have the same conversation of ‘Sure, you’ll pay three times more, but it will last more than three times longer than a consumer device,’” Lerner told me. “Our industry has sold iron that the customer had to keep for five to seven years, and it was difficult to rip-and-replace. The cloud makes it easier to switch devices today.”

Among the features listed on the XT1 spec sheet — which was distributed to all VARTECH attendees on a flyer the exact size of the product (7.8” L x 3.9” wide) — were:

  • Android 4.2 operating system
  • Lightweight (13 oz., including battery)
  • Easy to hold in one hand
  • Survives repeated 3-foot drops to concrete
  • Sealed against the elements with IP54 rating
  • Integrated latest-generation Honeywell 2D bar code imager
  • RFID and NFC capability
  • 16GB of built-in memory with expansion capability
  • 802.11 a/b/g/n/ dual-band Wi-Fi plus Bluetooth 4.0 (BLE)
  • High sensitivity GPS
  • Front and rear auto-focus cameras
  • Optional 3G/4G WWAN capability

VARTECH 2014 was held Sept. 18-20 in New Orleans at the Hyatt Regency and the Superdome. VARTECH, the annual conference for value-added distributor BlueStar partners, focuses on data collection, point of sale, mobility, digital signage, RFID, and security. For more information on BlueStar and VARTECH, go to www.BSMinfo.com/solution/InsideBlueStar.