Mobius Boston: Mike Temporale Reporting In From the I-Mate Session

[Jason Dunn]

Jim Morrison, CEO and founder of I-Mate, just finished presenting at Mobius 2006 in Boston, and Mike Temporale is down there now feeding me some bits and pieces of info over IM. First, he tells me that the legendary ugliness of the I-Mate JAQ was no accident. Morrison told the Mobius attendees that their enterprise customers wanted an ugly device that employees would work with it at the office, but wouldn't take it out to the pub because it's so ugly - and hence it wouldn't be stolen. Seems like curious logic to me, but it seems to explain a few things.<br /><br />Over the next 12 months, I-Mate is launching 15 devices that are exclusive to their brand. I believe they'll all be TechFaith Wireless-designed devices, since I-Mate is no longer working with HTC. Most of the devices will be Pocket PC Phone devices, though some will be Smartphone devices. The devices will be broken into three different classes: Ultimate (top geek gadgets, think Jasjar), Stealth (mid-level devices), and Light (low-end, less expensive devices).<br /><br />More to come from Mike Temporale at Mobius Boston continues to unfold.

[Kevin Daly]

Re the JAQ: Is anyone other than me completely and utterly sick of suited zombies and their fanatical, ever-expanding and never-ending war against against every last trace of normal human behaviour?

Not to mention all the "smiling is unprofessional" compulsive chalk monitors who race to defend them...

Sorry folks, just had to get that off my chest.
0X

PS. This is why the word "Enterprise" always triggers a gag reflex in me.
PPS. This is obviously not one of those posts where I'm fishing for work :-)

[Jason Lee]

I thought there were going to be 4 classes, Ultimate, Stealth, Light, and Butt Ugly...

[wiz]

First, he tells me that the legendary ugliness of the I-Mate JAQ was no accident. Morrison told the Mobius attendees that their enterprise customers wanted an ugly device that employees would work with it at the office, but wouldn't take it out to the pub because it's so ugly - and hence it wouldn't be stolen. Seems like curious logic to me, but it seems to explain a few things.

What a lame excuse. Somebody screwed up, and nobody wants to admit it. The JAQ will know a very early retirement from the i-Mate product portfolio.

"Hey, let's manufacture the world's ugliest car. That way, everybody will be so embarrassed to take it out for a ride, that it won't get stolen. Never mind the fact that we would normally want our employees representing our company to look professional"

"Hey, let's make it so darn ugly that nobody will want to buy it. Not only will it not be stolen, but not buying it at all can be used as a cost savings initiative"

Come on guys, I can imagine one does not want to provide employees with the world's coolest, hippest and most expensive toys, but there is a way in the middle. The iPaq 2000 series do not look flashy either, but at least they look professional, and not something to be ashamed of.

[Phillip Dyson]

Dubious explanation at best.

Sure, maybe one or two companies said that. But enough to design their maiden voyage post HTC device after?

First impressions are everything right?

And another thing. Mobile devices that are tethered to the workplace? So these companies don't want their employees to be able to work away from the office?

[Jason Dunn]

Dubious explanation at best.

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure if I believe it... ;-)

[Paragon]

Jim Morrison is so full of crap......That device was designed long before Morrison and his imate's picked it up. If he was around a century ago he would be called a carpetbagger and run out of town.....Sorry, I'm just sick of this guy. ;)

Good to hear Mike is at Mobius again though.

Dave

[Darius Wey]

I must have started a trend with the ugly JAQ bashing. Glad to see I wasn't just over-reacting. It really is ugly - whatever the excuse. 8O

[Mike Temporale]

Sorry for the late reply, I'm just getting settled back into life. 8)

Jim Morrison is so full of crap......That device was designed long before Morrison and his imate's picked it up.

Who's to say that it wasn't designed for i-mate by Inventec (or whatever their name is). We all know how long it can be for devices to make it to market. We don't know how long i-mate has been talking with Inventec. This job could have been a design and build contract.

Sure, maybe one or two companies said that. But enough to design their maiden voyage post HTC device after?

Well, here's the thing; i-mate doesn't have an exclusive agreement with HTC, as you may have noticed. ;) Jim told us that going forward, all new contracts are for exclusive rights. As for their maiden voyage, it's not just the JAQ, they are also launching the SPL designed by TechFaith. Both devices launched at the same time. It's certainly not clear which was started first.

Mobile devices that are tethered to the workplace? So these companies don't want their employees to be able to work away from the office?

I pressed Jim to give me some hints about who would have requested such a thing. Was it a large Enterprise customer, or just a smaller order. Obviously he wasn't going to drop customer names, and I can't blame him. He did say that it was for "government". If I recall correctly, there was a large order for Pocket PC devices for the US government.

If you had to purchase 100,000 mobile devices for your field technicians, would you give them HTC Hermes or JAQs? I would tend to go with the ugly device. The tech has to use the device regardless of it's looks. If you give them the hottest device on the market, I think you'll find a greater number of the devices go missing or get a beer or two spilled on them after hours at the bar. Where they wouldn't be as willing to carry the JAQ around after hours.

Remember, not all mobile devices are used by the executives of the organization. There's a market for Symbol devices and those are ugly too. This is just an extension of that.

That's my take on it anyway.

[Paragon]

Sorry for the late reply, I'm just getting settled back into life. 8)

Jim Morrison is so full of crap......That device was designed long before Morrison and his imate's picked it up.

Who's to say that it wasn't designed for i-mate by Inventec (or whatever their name is). We all know how long it can be for devices to make it to market. We don't know how long i-mate has been talking with Inventec. This job could have been a design and build contract.

Well Mike, we know because Inventec has been out flogging this device at trade shows for awhile now. IF Mr. Morrison worked with Inventec to produce it and his statement about exclusivity is true, then Inventec wouldn't have shown this device at shows looking for a taker, right?! Somewhere dear Jimmy is spouting bovine scathology....BS. ;)

Somehow I have a very hard time seeing the US government buying from iMate, and in particular, the JAQ.

IF the unnamed customer is worried about their staff spilling a beer or two on them I doubt they would spend the money on a device as fragile (cheap looking) as the JAQ. They would more likely buy something like a Symbol device. They really aren't ugly, they are rugged.....more bovine scathology, I'm afraid. :) Every IT purchaser in the world is going to look at the JAQ and see that the ROI on it is terrible, even at a lower than average price.

Dave

[Mike Temporale]

Well Mike, we know because Inventec has been out flogging this device at trade shows for awhile now.

Just because they've been out showing it off, doesn't mean that they don't have an exclusive agreement with i-mate. It just says that they can't sell the design to anyone else. But they can show it off as part of their portfolio. We won't know until another company decides to pickup this device. Which, I think we can all agree, is unlikely - based on the uglyness of the design. :wink: