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Thursday, November 15, 2007

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Motion Discontinuing the LS800 Tablet PC

- Rob Bushway

LS800 Tablet PC We just received word from Motion Computing that it intends to "End-of-Life" the highly successful LS800 Tablet PC. As is stated below, this is largely due to the components used to manufacturer the LS800 being in short supply and facing their own EOL. We can only hope that this is also a signal that an LS900 is coming soon. More below:

This alert serves as formal notification that Motion intends to EOL the LS800 platform by January 1, 2008 or while supplies last.  The LS800 was introduced in July 2005 and has been a market success for the past two and a half years.  Rapid advancements in mobile technology and wireless communications- while good news for new customer deployments, have resulted in shorter than normal product and component lifecycles.  Unfortunately, many of the LS800 components have reached end-of-life and thus limit Motion's ability to continue producing this product.

Supplies of the recently introduced 1.1GHz configurations continue to be available for customer purchase in the U.S., Canada, & select Pacific Rim geographies.  Unfortunately, supplies have already been depleted for Western European geographies.  Motion thanks all of our partners and customers for their contribution in making the LS800 a successful product.

LS800 Supported Peripherals
The LS800 Tablet, Pen, & Extended Battery will be supported and serviced for 3 years until December 31, 2010.
Motion has a limited inventory of Standard Batteries for aftermarket purchase.  Once this inventory has been exhausted, only the Extended Battery will be available.

The MobileDock will continue to be available while supplies last (limited supplies exist, so get your orders in quickly).  Service and support for the LS800 MobileDock will continue thru December 31, 2008.

The LS800 Bump Case will be serviced and supported for 90 days.  Additional Bump Cases can be purchased from Elegant Packaging after this time.



11/15/2007 10:16 AM MST  

Motion Discontinuing the LS800 Tablet PC     Comments [5]  |  Digg This |  del.icio.us |  Citations 
Thursday, November 15, 2007 11:34:10 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)
Well, if the LS800 is as successful as they say, doesn't it make sense for Motion to come up with a successor?

There is something wierd about that story. Manufacturers don't simply say they are going to stop making something before a new model is announced.
Richard Lee
Thursday, November 15, 2007 11:54:24 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)
What other devices are around that are of this size with an active digitizer, other than the Motion C5 which has a number of features such as RFID recognition and bar code reading that most consumers wouldn't want? Are UMPCs cutting into the market share of the LS800, even though few, if any, are really an equivalent?
Mike Moore
Thursday, November 15, 2007 12:17:53 PM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)
The LS800 is distinctive for being powerful enough to use as a desktop computer when docked (as both Scott Eckert and I have done) and small enough to fit in a large pocket (typically of a white coat but also of a sport jacket; http://www.segal.org/tablet/photo/).

If UMPCs improve to fit these requirements, or if Motion, Apple or others release new full computers in this form factor, people will still have access to this best-of-both worlds. In the long run as cost, battery life, speed and weight improve it seems clear that many people will like the ability to have their desktop computer in their pocket. Hopefully the LS800 was not so far ahead of its time that there will be a hiatus between now and the time that this form factor is offered again. Hopefully the heat production and power requirements of newer chips doesn't mean that the LS800 is the best we will do for a while.

I agree that the announcement of the "end of life" of the LS800 without announcement of a successor is not auspicious. An announcement in the spirit of "The king is dead; long live the king" would have been a cause for celebration.

In the event that Motion or others are planning a new device in this form factor, my advice is to converge on the same model that Apple would reach by enlarging its iPhone - build in capacity to work as a regular phone and receive calls even when the computer is in Sleep. A device that doubles as a phone and a desktop computer is achievable with current technology and would be very appealing.
Thursday, November 15, 2007 8:30:13 PM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)
Hopefully you wouldn't hold the LS800 to your ear to take a call. :)
Saturday, November 17, 2007 6:56:49 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)
The HTC Shift could have been the next LS800.
Richard Lee
Comments are closed.


       





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