""The MC50 was limited by the fact that it is on Wi-Fi, and only works in the user's four walls," said Neil Bonner, product manager for mobile computing EMEA at Motorola. Symbol had already made a cellular version, the ruggedized MC70, but the MC35 is "for field workers for whom an MC70 is unnecessarily robust, because they don't climb up repair poles or go out in lashing rain," said Bonner."

"The MC35, which was designed and built independently by Symbol, before the Motorola acquisition completed in January, runs Windows Mobile 5.0, and includes 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 1.2, GPS, and a 2 megapixel camera. It also supports email, Internet access, and a built-in application uses the camera as a barcode reader."

""It's the package rather than the device that is interesting," said Bonner, conceding that the specs aren't that exciting. "If customers want to run Salesforce.com on it, or other business applications, merchandising, this is the sort of product they will be looking at." He expects it to compete most strongly against products from HP or Qtek."

"Motorola has picked up Symbol's strategy of offering a more stable product than most PDAs or phones, with a guarantee it will be manufactured for two years, and supported for three years beyond that. We will offer three years fully comprehensive coverage against accidental damage, with a fixed cost of ownership for the full period," said Bonner."

"While the MC50 had a full barcode scanner, the MC35 uses software to decode barcodes through the camera. "It's not as robust or reliable as a laser scanner or barcode imager," said Bonner. "Barcodes are a nice to have for our market, which is much more likely to use it as a camera. For instance, insurance assessors will be able to take images and get claims processing before they leave the premises.""

"GPS is included but Motorola is not bundling any map software, leaving
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