Well, I am almost recovered from the CES trip.  It was a most exciting and very busy trip for the whole GBM team, including introducing the newest official team member, our mischievous little friend Splotch!  Huge thanks also go to our additional companion Eddie Vanderbeck (not an official team member - or not yet anyway [:)]) for some great camerawork and general assistance.

In a true blogging style, here are the thoughts I am left with after the trip.  My comments are more general in nature, but are very much a part of the process we went through:

1. CES is HUGE! - There is just no way to cover it all in a couple of days, or a week for that matter.  CES is about much more than the show floor, it is about the networking, the meetings, the dinners, lunches and breakfasts where so many great conversations take place on any and all technology you want to imagine.  The late night meetings that start at 10 p.m. and end at 12:30 a.m. are huge, just because it is the only time you can get together with great contacts.
2. You better have a plan - We had a set of hard appointments, and a set of primary targets we wanted to hit, plus a few "if we have time" opportunities.  It worked out well for our team to split into two parts and divvy up that list.  Even with that list, the pace is frenetic at best.  It is very hard not to divert to other things, especially if you are an electronics and gadget freak as we all are!  There were a few discoveries along the way as well, which always makes it exciting.
3. Our Microsoft MVP status is a valuable asset to us all - We VERY much appreciate the contribution Microsoft made to get our team into the right places there at CES.  That is how we were able to get a private tour of the Partner Pavillion (and a standup meeting with Bill Gates), had intros to key people who we would never have been able to interact with, and got lots of great insider information that contributes heavily to our content here at GBM for you our readers.  Our MVP leads were there and ready to help us anytime we needed it, and without that help, we would have been outside some areas we needed to be in.  As a part of a 2 day Vista RTM lab, we were able to hear and learn a ton of information about this new OS.  We have all been beta testing for a while, but still learned a lot which will come out in various ways to you as we post on the subject.
4.  The network of Tablet PC community is alive and thriving! - It was not just at the Tablet PC meetup (my personal highlight by the way, just like the whole team has indicated) that we saw and heard enthusiasm for the Tablet and UMPC form factor and technology.  When you talk with people like Martin Smekal (CEO of TabletKiosk), and Scott Eckert (CEO of Motion Computing), you know that these companies are committed and moving forward at a strong pace.  Meeting and talking with trhe Neek Talkers (teenage girls) is a treat in itself, just to get their perspectives.  In addition, the relationships with other Tablet PC MVP's like James Kendrick, Martc Orchant, Linda Epstein, Fritz Switzer, Terri Stratton, etc. are very valuable and help us all to stay renewed in our passions for Tablet.  It is a great cooperative community.  There are some great things happening folks, and we will continue to see more coming forth in hardware, software and related devices.  We attended a get together on Tuesday night after the general Tablet PC meetup that included Tablet and related OEM's and ISV's, and were very excited to talk to people like StreetDeck, Eleksen, TabletKiosk, Motion, Toshiba and so many others who are invested in the future of tablet in one way or another.
5. We have a lot of work to do at GBM - We certainly did all we could to bring you the experience, but realized that we have room for improvement.  Rising at 6:00 and staying up until 3:30 a.m. to have meetings, shoot video, edit video, post all the above info is an arduos thing to say the least, but we were committed to the task.  This was our first official covered event, and we fully plan to cover more in the future, so please give us your feedback on how we can improve (even including hints on how to properly use a directional microphone [:)]).  We still have lots of stories to share, more video to edit and post, and much more to tell, so stay tuned.
6. The people who sponsor our efforts deserve your attention! - This is in no way intended to be a shameless plug.  The assistance of companies like TechSmith (We love ya Betsy!), Microsoft, and others were invaluable to making this trip a possibility for us.  Please do check out their sites and products, it is worth doing and  will help continue to fund the efforts we do to bring you these activities.  We have another sponsor coming on board shortly that we are most excited about, so stay tuned for that news soon as well.
7. YOU are the reason we do this - I am way too old to keep these kind of hours and efforts up if there was not a reason (You!) to do so.  This is not a paying gig for us folks, it is an outlet of passion that we do in order to share the great opportunites we get with companies, equipment, events, etc. with you, our readers.  If you do not offer your comments, forum posts and general feedback, then the effort is disappearing into a void.  Tell us what you want, tell us how we are doing, but tell us something!  We want to continue to improve, so let us know how.

Okay, I am exhausted all over again, but I want to take a moment to thank all the members of Team GottaBeMobile.  Working with these guys as we cover these type events is going to continue to be a great experience. 

My partner Rob Bushway is the man folks.  He is concerned every moment of every day that we are being effiicient in our efforts to serve you.  He is the master of content management, keeps us on schedule and in touch, and has a great wife (Kathi) who accompanied us as well.  Kathi was the team "Mom", and the rest of us had wives glad she was along to keep us in line!

Warner Crocker.  Well, whaddya say about WC?  Loves to laugh ("Do you know what I mean" guys?), cooperative in the best sense of team effort, a prolific poster, and a news hound extraordinaire!  He contributed a set of flying, screaming monkeys (don't ask) to a late night session that made us all more productive, you'll just have to trust me on that!  His wife Thomasin was along, but stayed pretty much in the background this time, which allowed us a unique look at Warner's antics.  Thanks Thomasin!

Matt Faulkner is a hoot.  We had to pry him away from those penny slot machines (did I mention he is a big spender as well [:)]) a time or two, but watching him in his first experience like this was a blast to see.  His enthusiasm for what we do makes him a joy to have on the team.  His excitement is contagious and refreshing.

Splotch.  This little guy had more fun than anyone.  We will share a bit more on this later, but he is indeed a little stress reliever!  Look for him to be more and more involved every day in the activities of GBM, and look for ways you may even be able to get SPLOTCHED youself!

And our new friend Eddie Vanderbeck.  He is the only one that walked away with any money from the Casinos, but he deserved it after all the helpful volunteer effort he gave in many aspects of the task (including helping me find a lost cellphone!).  It was great to have you along Eddie!

As I said, there are more posts, pictures, videos, etc. still to come from this trip, so keep checking in with us.  We are moving into a nice period of activity for Tablet / UMPC, and want you to be around as we share the news that surfaces!

Splotch and I can't wait until next year!

-

Opening up conversations between vendors of all sorts in the Mobile arena is something that gets us excited at GottaBeMobile.com. We really want to see people ask and get answers from both sides of the sales channel.

What makes it even more exciting is when a CEO or other major player not only accepts the request to do an interview, he responds to all the questions in a forthright and open method. That is what happened in this interview with Martin Smekal, CEO of TabletKiosk. Here is the text of the interview:

GBM: Hi Martin, we very much appreciate your taking time out at such a busy time for your company to speak with us.

MS: Hello Dennis, good to speak with you and congratulations on the new GottaBeMobile.com site.

GBM: Thanks Martin. First of all, I think there is some confusion I'd like to clear up as to the actual structure of your company and exactly where you are positioned in the Tablet PC and UMPC market. Can you give us a quick description of Tabletkiosk?

MS: TabletKiosk is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sand Dune Ventures, Inc. and was founded three and a half years ago as a boutique ODM (original design manufacture) focused on the development of mobile computing devices and accessories. Our corporate offices are located in Southern California.

Currently we are offering the Sahara line of Tablet PC's and we will announce a UMPC device at the end of this month to compliment this product line.

GBM: How about Martin Smekal himself? Give us a little personal bio and company position information. Tell us about Martin and what your typical workday looks like.

MS: I'm a veteran of the technology sector with over 20 years management experience, with companies like Aldus, Merisel, MetaCreations, PaceBlade Inc, Play Inc., and Time Warner. I have extensive experience leading teams in various disciplines from distribution, to sales and marketing to manufacturing and software development. I'm married and have two wonderful children. I hold a business degree from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University; currently I'm the President & CEO of TabletKiosk.

Working in the technology field affords me the luxury of never having a typical workday.

GBM: We feel that direct consumer to vendor discussion is critical. You are known to us at GottaBeMobile as one of the influential people in this market who has been ready and willing to take time to speak directly to consumers in places like TabletPCBuzz.com and other areas. First we want to thank you for that openness! Why does this direct to consumer discussion seem important to you? Has it helped your business? Has it caused you problems? Would you advise other OEM's and ISV's to do this as a practice?

MS: As the leader of TabletKiosk, I feel that it is critical to our success that we maintain an open channel of communication with our dealer channel and the end-user community from every level of our company. I would like TabletKiosk to be known as the Nordstrom's of the industry - caring about our customers and willing to do what is required to keep them happy. The Tablet PC community has some excellent OEM's / ODM's with long established pedigrees and excellent products - so its not good enough for us to just provide a comparable product, we need to be prepared to offer more in design, accessories and above all service.

Has it caused issues for us? Without a doubt, but the benefits of this direct channel of communication has allowed us to address issues before they became much more costly.

Our long awaited release of the Baja series is a prime example of this - the original product that we were developing was based on the Transmeta processor As it became clear to us this processor technology was being discontinued well into our development stages, we had to make a decision about releasing a product that was known to be utilizing end-of-life components in an effort to grab some market-share while potentially alienating these early adapters, or starting from scratch with a new design that would allow these users to migrate from one generation to the next on this platform without any problems.

Upon discussions with key customers and representatives of the Tablet PC community, on various boards and forums the decision was clear to us - scrap it and start from scratch. But by doing this we have had many questions to answer about a product that has been listed as "coming soon" for far too long….

I strongly urge other OEMs and ISV's to designate an associate to represent and participate in these forums as the data you will receive is priceless - but I also must caution your readers, that some questions posed by members are of such corporate strategic nature or regarding proprietary information you can't realistically expect a response in an open forum - i.e. product road maps, cost structures, distribution strategies, etc… So when you pose them and don't get a response….

GBM: Okay, let's talk about your Tablet PC business. Who are you targeting specifically for Tablet PC sales? What are your current offerings, and how successful do you feel you have been selling Tablets? Has it met, exceeded, or fallen short of your goals long term?

MS: We currently are focused on five specific vertical markets: Control Systems, Education, Government / Public Sector, Gaming (Casino's) and Healthcare. Currently we are offering the third generation of our Sahara series which represents a 12.1" display platform utilizing either a Transmeta Crusoe, Intel Celeron or a Intel Centrino processor. This platform also has the distinction of being one of the few systems on the market currently that offers a Resistive Touch-screen interface and offers full Linux O/S support.

The Sahara line has a full line of accessories behind it from the traditional bump cases, docking stations and battery chargers to items that are exclusive to our design, such as our VESA Plate with I/O which allows for the mounting of our systems to any standard armature device with a VESA 100mm or 75mm bolt pattern, allowing users the flexibility to mount our systems cleanly on a table, in a car, on a wheelchair or hospital bed in a simple to use and clean design.

While the overall Tablet PC market has grown slower then originally forecasted, we have enjoyed triple digit growth each year since our inception, and the future looks very promising as we continue to expand our product offering and pursue new target markets with our solutions.

GBM: We understand that you are putting significant time and energy entering into the new Origami / Ultra-Mobile PC arena. Describe that journey thus far for us, and tell us where you are headed in the near future. Can you give us some details relative to models, markets, availability, etc.?

MS: As the word has leaked out already, TabletKiosk will indeed be a participant in the UMPC market. This is a very exciting technology platform for all of us at TabletKiosk, as it allows us to provide a level of computing power not seen before in such a mobile device / pricing ratio. We believe that this will be a milestone platform from which further device development will be nurtured and exploited as we strive to develop solutions to further enhance our daily lives.

We will formally announce this device in late March, and will begin shipping to customers by the end of April - anything beyond this I have to defer to our official release.

GBM: What distribution channels will you use for UMPC's? Do you see retail as a successful place for you to sell these products?

MS: At this time our business model is not geared to the retail channels - We will continue to offer our solutions through our authorized reseller channel and on a direct basis from our website and our telemarketing team.

While I feel the retail channel is a natural fit for a UMPC product line, at this time we do not have the infrastructure required to support this client base at a level that would be on par with our current authorized reseller channel.

GBM: What do you see as the biggest challenge to doing UMPC right? Is it hardware costs, battery life, etc., or are there other challenges you see?

MS: I feel the first challenge is to make consumers aware of the benefits of the platform rather then the perceived weakness. There has been a lot of hype/speculation around an instant on, 1024 x 768, 5-8 hour battery, GSRM enabled, sub 2 lbs solution that would cost $500 - reality will not be able to meet these expectations. This is the first generation of this platform, and as technology advances this platform will mature as well to a point we all hope will meet these lofty goals.

What has been developed and announced is amazing by itself - a true 900Mhz - 1.0GHz PC that utilizes the Windows XP Tablet extension set, has wireless capabilities and is under $1000 - before the UMPC was announced the closest you could get to something like this would be based on a 8.4" screen and carrying a price closer to $2000 - and people were raving about these units. When you consider how an average user might utilize the UMPC in their daily life to compliment their primary computer, you quickly recognize the value proposition is enormous.

GBM: What message and thought would you like to leave our readers with?

MS: I'd like to thank all your readers for supporting the Tablet PC platform and TabletKiosk specifically, because without you none of us would be here today and to watch www.TabletKiosk.com and this site for our formal release of our UMPC platform.

GBM: Many thanks Martin. We all wish you the absolute best in your goals with Tablet PC's and UMPC's!

Martin welcomes comments from customers at any time. You may contact Martin Smekal at martin@sandduneventures.com. Please visit their website at: