Gateway to resell Motion's Tablet PC

LAS VEGAS: Gateway Inc. said it plans to team up with Motion Computing, a tablet computer start-up founded by former executives of rival Dell, and sell Motion tablet PCs under the Gateway brand. Mike Stinson, Gateway's vice president of mobile products, said in a phone interview that the company planned to unveil its first line of Tablet PCs on Dec. 9. The Gateway products will be versions of Motion's existing tablet line.

Tablet PCs are a new class of fully equipped mobile computer that allows business users to take notes via natural handwriting or using a special touch-screen sensitive digital pen. The devices run the full kit of Microsoft software. "We found that ... Motion has spent a lot of time developing a tablet PC that was very, very close to the product that we wanted to do," Stinson said.

Motion Computing's tablet computers boast a 12.1 inch diagonal screen that is considered the largest display of any of the industry's new class of tablet PCs. The device is 11.7 inches by 9.3 inches in diameter and less than 1 inch thick. It weighs 3.3 pounds and has a battery life of around 3.3 hours.

Gateway and Motion will sell substantially the same tablet PCs but targeted largely at different groups of customers. Motion is targeting vertical business markets with custom requirements, while Gateway will focus on a broader set of customers with more mainstream uses for the note-taking tablet. "The two companies are complementary in that we aren't stepping on each other's customers," Stinson said.

Personal Evaluation

Gateway's non-exclusive deal with Motion will allow Gateway to sell a line of Motion-based tablet PCs through its chain of 272 retail stores starting in mid-December, Stinson said. Customers can evaluate the tablet PC concept in person rather than having to buy the product sight-unseen.

Stinson said Gateway plans to sell its tablet line of PCs for prices ranging around $2,500, which would include a complete set of accessories including a keyboard, docking station, optical storage devices and wireless connections.

The prices appear to be in line with those from Motion, which list four configurations of its own M1200 model ranging in price from $2,100 to $2,600, depending on the size and number of add-on features a customer selects. The Motion Computing M1200 went on sale since earlier this month at http://www.motioncomputing.com.

Motion Computing, which was founded in 1991 by executives from Dell, Compaq, Apple and Fujitsu, is targeting a variety of vertical markets ranging from healthcare to government to other business markets. The Austin, Texas-based start-up has taken $6.5 million in initial funding and formed strategic ties to Taiwanese computer maker Compal Electronics, Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. Solectron's Stream unit and FedEx, among others.

Stinson said Gateway is talking with Motion about future products but, for now, "We are both focused on, 'Let's make the first product work.'" Gateway has taken no investment stake as part of its current deal, he said. Gateway, of Poway, California, announced the deal in a short statement released at Comdex, the U.S. computer industry's biggest annual trade show, underway in Las Vegas this week.

 © Reuters