Small Business

Motorola To Offer Retail Tools

Motorola demonstrated new hand-held scanners at the National Retail Federation trade show opening in New York. The devices are the first visible output from Motorola’s acquisition of Symbol Technologies, which Motorola acquired last year.

One devices look a bit like a cellphone, but instead connect to the retailers wireless inventory system letting personnel access product information as well as communicate with other employees via walkie talkiie or direct calls. The device is meant to improve the retail customers’ experience by giving employees the power they need to offer pricing information on the spot.

“That [employee with a CA50] is instantly more productive,” said Craig Mathias, a principal at the Farpoint Group, an Ashland, Mass.-based advisory firm specializing in wireless networking and mobile computing. “… When you hire someone to work in a big retail store, you can’t possibly spend enough time to educate them on all the items carried in the store.” - Newsday

Motorola expects to launch new kiosk services as well, giving shoppers fast-exit options such as improved u-check-out solutions.

The device comes with wireless LAN, bar code scanning and information retrieval, and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) for integrated mobile-phone style voice communications.   The CA50 can perform as an extension of the desktop so that incoming calls can be redirected to ensure that no call is missed or abandoned.