Motion draws up local channel strategy

Mobile computing and wireless communications vendor, Motion Computing, has recruited Brett Gross as its new regional manager as part of plans to establish a local foothold.

Gross will be responsible for marketing, business development and channel management in Australia and New Zealand.

He previously spent three years as a business development executive for Panasonic.

Gross plans to expand Motion's reseller and distributor numbers. The company currently has one national distributor in Australia - DH Technology.

"I want distribution partners that understand the whole concept of the tablet PC and how it fits into a value proposition for a customer," he said.

"We are not looking at creating a McDonald's here where somebody on every corner sells Motion products."

Gross will look to appoint two players in each key vertical markets including hospitality, government, health, retail, manufacturing and distribution.

In conjunction with DH Technology, Gross has developed a reseller program aimed at training, certifying and promoting partners. It also provides product demonstration kits.

IDC hardware analyst, Mike Sager, said tablet PCs running Microsoft operating systems experienced growth of more than 100 per cent in Q4 2005 when compared with the same period 12 months earlier.

"The increase is a combination of vendor support, price reduction and a slow but growing usage of tablets," he said. "As more vendors support the technology we will see more impetus behind it and further growth."

Sager said the launch of Microsoft's new Vista operating system, now slated for 2007, should also help drive the market.