Log in

View Full Version : Coca-Cola to Deploy 28,000 Symbol Pocket PCs in North America and Europe


Jason Dunn
04-20-2004, 10:30 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=130050&liArticleTypeID=1&liCategoryID=1&liChannelID=2&liFlavourID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1' target='_blank'>http://www.computerweekly.com/artic...Search=&nPage=1</a><br /><br /></div>"Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola has signed a deal with Symbol Technologies to roll out 28,000 mobile devices - based on specifications agreed by the two companies - across its European and North American operations. <br />The company, the world's largest producer, bottler and distributor of non-alcoholic beverages, will use the devices, based on Symbol’s MC9000 technology, for logistics, delivery and service applications to boost efficiency and customer service.<br /><br />...The jointly developed device features a bright, high-resolution colour screen for easy reading indoors and outdoors; Symbol Spectrum24 wireless Lan communications; Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 Software for Pocket PC; the 32-bit Xscale processor from Intel; and rechargeable, extended-use lithium-ion batteries."<br /><br />A nice corporate win for the Pocket PC platform! I think I feel like a Coke... :mrgreen:

Zack Mahdavi
04-20-2004, 10:52 PM
Wow, that's really cool.. I hope this is yet another successful corporate deployment case study.

ombu
04-21-2004, 02:16 AM
Would be nice to know why WM2003 is the winner, sure it was compared with other OS's, sorry Palm lovers, I'm thinking about Windows CE since it's suposed to work in such customized hardware, and I'm thinking in Linux too.

Regards.

Mike Temporale
04-21-2004, 02:30 AM
Coke already had a deployment of iPAQ's. The drivers would use them to read the current level of stock in various vending machines. Then they could load up with the right amount. This saved the driver a trip in to look inside the machines and then another trip with the stock. Or carrying a crap load of everything just in case.

This annoucement sounds like they have arranged for specific features that would allow a better expereince from the driver. (ie: better screen for indoor / outdoor use)

Coke is always heavy into tech. Very cool company. :D

Jeff Rutledge
04-21-2004, 02:37 AM
Coke is always heavy into tech. Very cool company. :D

Agreed. I've always been a fan. And this is another reason I don't like Pepsi. :mrgreen:

Mitch D
04-21-2004, 05:32 AM
&lt;Voice of Bill Cosby> "Here have a Coke and a PPC... Where's my Jello?"

I might not like drinking Coke but I know the reps I see around work always have cool toys (tablet PCs, tiny portable printers).

Stik
04-21-2004, 05:34 AM
Being a Dr. Pepper kinda guy, I'll stay neutral in the Coke vs. Pepsi debate. However, in fairness, Pepsi has been utilizing Symbol PPC's for quite a time now themselves. It started in 2002 with what I believe was called the Melard Sidearm, which was run w/ Microsoft OS.

Pepsi has now progressed to...

PBG ( Pepsi Bottling Group ) has rolled out Symbol PDT 8000 Pocket PCs to its sales force, and built a next-generation application for the sales reps with the help of Shelflink. The Pocket PCs tie into the back office using 802.11b wireless connectivity when available or through a dial-up line. Shelflink built the Pocket PC application using the Microsoft Visual C#® and Microsoft Visual Basic® .NET languages, and the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/casestudies/CaseStudy.asp?casestudyid=13819

Ken Mattern
04-21-2004, 02:07 PM
I think I feel like a Coke... :mrgreen:

Jason, I can't help it. What does a Coke feel like? :roll:

Coke has always been at the forefront of technology. I think this is exciting news. I can definitely see some interesting application ideas coming from something like this. Their use of iPAQs was the right beginning step. With Symbol a whole new range of possibilities opens up. RFid, GPRS and inventory management combined into one app? The possibilities are limitless (I know it’s a cliché but what the heck).

thunderck
04-21-2004, 03:58 PM
I believe Coke bought Symbol's new 9000 line, which is what I'm recomending for my Corp. They are really nice, best on the market.

The units have great scan engines that are very flexable. :) In fact the engines are soooo good that Intermec is buying them to put in their new handheld scanners.

The handheld scanner market is defiantly moving to the PPC. Symbol has one Palm scanner and I think it might be the only Palm scanner out there. All the big scanner companies, Symbol, Intermec, LXE, HHP, ect use PPC in their flagship scanners.

Holla PPC!!! :D

gorkon280
04-21-2004, 04:22 PM
Not Coke, but Pepsi has new machines that they opwn with a little remote. I also hear that without even opening a machine, they can download all of the sales data for that machine to a device (PPC I assume). Then they can transmit this back to the bottling plant(modem or wifi). I assume that they could do some Just In Time inventory for the machines and automaticallly setup the run for the next day depending on the data gathered from the machine. All in all a excellent use of technology...you just bette rmake sure it's secure enough so enterprising young individuals can't open the machine or trigger the lock from a PPC. :twisted:

gorkon280
04-21-2004, 04:26 PM
The even branded the device as well....check out:

http://www.symbol.com/news/pressreleases/coca-cola_rolls_sbl_computers.html

Mike Temporale
04-21-2004, 04:38 PM
Not Coke, but Pepsi has...

Actually the inside of vending machines are very sophisticated. Coke actually puts a transmitter that will send inventory and cash counts back to Coke's headquarters. As soon as you put a $1 into a machine, they know. Pick Diet, again, they know about right then.

thunderck
04-21-2004, 06:25 PM
...you just bette rmake sure it's secure enough so enterprising young individuals can't open the machine or trigger the lock from a PPC. :twisted:


Free drinks anyone... :twisted: Reminds me of the days when, above mentioned "enterprising youg individuals" could use pay-phones for free. :devilboy:

quidproquo
04-21-2004, 07:14 PM
My wife works for one of the local Coke bottlers in their HR dept. They are always on the cutting edge of technology.

They also were the first to develop the "Fridge Pack" which is just about the greatest thing since sliced bread!

(Imagine that.... a 12 pack that really fits into your refridgerator :wink: )

Cybrid
04-23-2004, 06:01 PM
Finally! Pepsi, Kraft, Nestle, Good humor, Osylvania...have all been running pocket pc. Coke seems to have been late in the game. Since I love their signature product I was getting concerned about how they weren't keeping up with the times... :roll:

dh
04-23-2004, 07:42 PM
I'm not the least bit interested in the old POS vs PPC debates.
However, my company sells a lot of handhelds and scanners and I can't remember the last time we sold any Palm based devices. For data collection, it seems that MS is the only game in town these days. Even the new Psion devices are all WM, what is the world coming to?

Everything we do is WM based, either Symbol or HHP. I personally prefer the HHP designs but Symbol seem to be much more reliable and HHP support is pathetic.

Mike Dimmick
04-23-2004, 07:49 PM
Most of you wouldn't recognise this device as a Pocket PC if you saw it: it has a large keypad, and also is a 'gun' style device, which can be gripped with a handle, the screen and keyboard resting above the user's hand, and a trigger for the built-in scanner resting under the user's index finger.

Pocket PC makes a very good corporate data collection OS simply because the skills are easily transferrable to and from the desktop: you can use the MFC and ATL libraries from C++, you can (to an extent) use eVB, and you can also use VB.NET and C#. It's a lot easier for the OEM just to go with Pocket PC than to produce a custom Windows CE platform.

By contrast, Palm doesn't even have the standard C library - it's almost gratuitously incompatible.

Oh, and almost every laser scanner engine is built by Symbol - I believe they still own some patents on the technology - whoever built the actual device.

dh
06-19-2004, 03:22 PM
Most of you wouldn't recognise this device as a Pocket PC if you saw it: it has a large keypad, and also is a 'gun' style device, which can be gripped with a handle, the screen and keyboard resting above the user's hand, and a trigger for the built-in scanner resting under the user's index finger.

Here is the MC9000 which is the device that Coke is using:

http://www.rfidnews.net/Misc%20Images/MC9000Boxes.jpg

Symbol produce it in a whole bunch of different configurations and both WM2003 and CE.NET versions. There is also an RFID reader kicking around, although I've not seen one yet.

It's also interesting that they are no longer supporting Palm OS at all, everything is Windows based. Symbol seem to be a roll with this product line and have some cool new stuff planned for later in the year.