Wireless connectivity has been a boon to industry, enabling mobile workers to access relevant information, capture data and communicate with enterprise software in real time. This enabling technology has driven the development of mobile printers, capable of delivering receipts, labels, professional documents, tickets and tags at the point of application or delivery, increasing operational efficiency. Adoption of mobile printers has been concentrated on a short list of well-known applications including shelf labeling, route accounting and direct store delivery. As emerging applications take hold, and SMB’s embrace the technology, successful market development will require a focused emphasis on application commercialization and channel development. With limited resources, suppliers of mobile printing devices need to understand which markets and applications present the best near-term opportunities, and which companies present the most compelling alliance and partnership opportunities.

Research estimates and forecasts for mobile printers suggests that the category is growing more rapidly than the established stationary printer segment, and that the segment has become robust enough to warrant significant investment consideration. But unlike the stationary printer segment, the technical and commercial requirements for mobile printers continue to morph as wireless networking standards evolve and new mobile computing platforms proliferate. The dynamic nature of the segment is creating challenges and opportunities for suppliers and their channel partners as they strive to identify and meet emerging requirements with the right solutions. Meeting this challenge consistently will require closer collaboration between device manufacturers, software vendors, purveyors of networking solutions, system integrators and resellers.

Underlying all this is the proliferation of feature sets, performance requirements, packaging, and network support capabilities. So while the market is growing, it is also presenting virtually every major and minor supplier of mobile printers with a host of market development and margin management issues. This report will help suppliers address these issues by supplying on-going market coverage of this dynamic product segment. The fourth edition of our mobile printer report will provide printer suppliers with detailed, accurate and actionable market intelligence to inform their product, market and channel development decisions. This report will track current and emerging deployment trends among enterprise end-users from all key user market segments.

Clients of Mobile Printers: Global Market Demand Analysis, Fourth Edition will be provided with information and insights through an extensive and robust schedule of research, which include:

• Global geographic coverage with detailed technical market definitions and segmentation.
• Supplier analysis, including conservative, granular market estimates and forecasts for all product and technology segments, coverage of leading and emerging suppliers including: current position, market share and strategic analysis vendor profiles
• End-user analysis, including product and vendor selection criteria, purchasing trends, adoption barriers, budgets, and feature preferences;
• Discussion of key issues, forces and trends driving market demand for shaping opportunities and requirements for growing share and profit.

This market report will cover:

PRODUCT COVERAGE (including but not limited to):
• Form factor
  Portable/wearable
  Cart-mounted
  Vehicle-mounted
  Workboard

• Print technology
  Impact (Dot Matrix)
  Ink jet
  Laser
  Thermal (Direct or Transfer)

• Connectivity method
  802.11 a/b/g
  Bluetooth
  Cable
  IrDA
  Others (including WWAN connectivity)

• Print width
  2, 3, 4, 6, 8 inch, and larger

• Output type
  Forms/invoice
  Labels
  Professional documents
  Receipts
  Tags/tickets

VERTICAL MARKET COVERAGE (including but not limited to):
• Government (state, local, federal)
• Healthcare
• Hospitality
• Logistics
• Manufacturing
• Professional services
• Retail/in-store
• Transportation

INSTALLATION ENVIRONMENTS AND APPLICATIONS COVERAGE

Qualitative and quantitative coverage of the largest and fastest growing installation environments and their applications (including but not limited to):
• Retail floor
• Hospital
• Field workforce
• Manufacturing shop floor
• Hospitality/Entertainment
• Public Safety
• Route Accounting/DSD
• Transportation/Fleet
• Warehouse/DC

DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS COVERAGE

Current and forecasted mobile printer shipments by distribution channel
• Direct to End-User
• Direct to OEM
• Dealer/Distributor
• VAR/System Integrator
• Wireless Carrier
• Other

GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE
• AMERICAS (North and South America)
• EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa)
• ASIA-PACIFIC (Australia, Asia, Pacific Rim)


TABLE OF CONTENTS (to be updated)

The 2009 Mobile Printers program will comprised of two analyses, each with specific deliverables:

SUPPLIER ANALYSIS (including but not limited to:)
• Estimates and forecasts for mobile printers for each coverage area
  Supplier revenues
  Units Shipped
  Average factory selling Prices
• Global and regional market share Estimates
• Global and regional market share change 2007- 2008
• Vendor profiles
• Discussion regarding emerging application requirements for mobile printers
• Discussion regarding disruptive printing technologies
• Global and regional distribution channel analysis

END-USER ANALYSIS (including but not limited to):
• Respondent demographics
  Primary line of business
  Size of organization
  Current use of mobile printing solutions
  Involvement in mobile printer purchase process

• Mobile printer adoption considerations
  Adoption drivers and barriers
  Installation environments and applications
  Experience with installed base performance relative to feature requirements
  Mobile printing solution component selection criteria
  Mobile printer selection criteria
  Supplier selection considerations and rankings
  Future investment plans

• Mobile printer purchase process
  Environmental considerations
  Sources for information
  Distribution channel preferences
  System expenditures and budgets