Why does a rugged tablet cost more than an iPad?

May 8th, 2012 by Advanced AutomationSubscribe to our RSS Feed

Here is a great article written by the CEO of Glacier Computer, Ron D’Ambriosio.  We here at Advanced Automation, Inc.  also frequently  run into the lack of true understanding behind the additional costs associated with a rugged tablet.  In Ron’s own comments, he sums it up pretty clearly. Enjoy!

“We repeatedly hear, ‘Our budget is sub $1000 per unit’. Why is the budget sub $1000 for a rugged version of a portable tablet? Taking the iPad® price and doubling it to cover perceived ruggedization costs, is an incredible oversimplification and very unrealistic.”

Why does a rugged tablet cost more than an iPad?

Why does a rugged tablet cost more than an iPad? Tablet PCs are becoming the must-have technology of this decade. Businesses are researching the viability of tablet usage for their field applications, replacing rugged clamshell laptops, bulky handhelds, and vehicle mount terminals. Every day we receive calls from companies who have questions about our line-up of rugged tablets. Inquiries are focused on specifications, features and pricing expectations from the perspective consumer-grade tablets.

We repeatedly hear, ‘Our budget is sub $1000 per unit’. Why is the budget sub $1000 for a rugged version of a portable tablet? Taking the iPad® price and doubling it to cover perceived ruggedization costs, is an incredible oversimplification and very unrealistic. There are three main areas that drive up the cost of rugged portable tablets; manufacturing volume, engineering, and configurability.

Manufacturing Volume: Identifying the potential consumer market is fairly straightforward with buying trends and adoption of technology well researched and understood. Consumers are well educated about features, price, and quality. Brand awareness and loyalty are recognized and accepted. MSRP is set by the market leader who is always first to launch the latest technology. Technical reviews, editorials, and consumer feedback happen at light speed, sometimes before the latest tablet is even available. When building only one or two flavors of a tablet, and you know your market is millions of pieces, manufacturing costs are low and predictable. Building vanilla flavored tablets with all the same components, drives manufacturing costs down. The enterprise space is very different.

Field service encompasses numerous applications from office and home to extremes found in environments like oil fields, ski resorts, disaster relief, and first responders. One or two flavors of a tablet configuration will not meet the needs of the existing vertical markets. The volume potential of unit numbers is difficult to predict and most certainly is less than the consumer market. The enterprise side of tablet use is much more diverse than the consumer side and seems to be in an early adopter phase. Talking with companies it is becoming very clear that education on features required for specific functions and environments is still needed. Many companies don’t even know what display size is optimal for their application. A one size fits all, just does not exist. Variation in requirements keeps volumes lower and cost of manufacturing higher.

Engineering Rugged Portable Tablets: Engineering consumer-grade tablets is defined for a set of specifications suited to usage by the average consumer. Consumers use tablets to surf the web, play games, check email, read books, and Skype. Tablets are typically used in climate controlled, carpeted environments and when they are dropped on concrete, their extended service contract covers repairs outside the standard warranty. Consumer expectations about quality and design are aligned with the manufacturers tablet design. If a consumer uses his tablet on a chairlift while skiing and it doesn’t work because it is frozen, he doesn’t call Best Buy and demand that his tablet work in sub-zero conditions. Expectations between the end user and manufacturer are completely different in the enterprise space.

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