Active Ink Software Blog

Phone Card Company uses Tablet PCs to sign up customers

Union Telecard, one of the largest distributors of prepaid phone cards in the United States, uses tablet PCs to manage their sales process.  When a sales person meets with a merchant that is interested in reselling Union Telecard's phone cards, the Active Ink form is displayed on the tablet PC for the merchant to fill out.  When the contract is signed, the form is queued to a printer, where a copy is handed to the merchant and the master copy is emailed to headquarters for further processing.

The sales process is much more efficient than the old methodology in that there are no paper contracts to process, no copies to be made and no faxes to be sent.  Below is a copy of the merchant application.

Eco-Friendly Solution

Recently several people have commented that Active Ink is a very eco-friendly solution because of the way it saves on paper, which in turn means fewer trees are cut down.  We don't market our products per se as eco-friendly, but we do agree that our tablet PC solution does cut down on paper usage and if that's a good thing for the environment, we're happy to contribute to making our planet a little greener.

Auto Body Shop Uses Tablet PCs to Manage Inspections

Professional Automotive, Inc., an authorized service provider for both domestic and foreign automobiles, uses their tablet PCs to manage auto inspections.  They record all information related to the vehicle on the tablet PC using their 36 point inspection program.  After the inspection is completed, the form is saved to a server and queued to a printer where a copy is handed to the customer.

Below are the Active Ink forms that the service technicians fill out on their tablet PC.

HP tx2000 Tablet PC Release and Our First Look Review

TabletPCReview has gotten their hands on the new HP tx2000 tablet PC.  It's an update from the HP tx1000 and includes both a touch screen and an active digitizer, which will make for a much better inking experience.  Several Active Ink customers have complained about the tx1000 and their inking experience when filling out forms.   The problem was related to the palm making contact with the tablet display and the ink bleeding across the screen.

The HP tx2000 retails for $1299 and is one of the most affordable tablet PCs on the market.

Active Digitizer Technology on a UMPC

InPlay Technologies has developed a solution to bring the benefits of the active digitizer technology to the UMPC market.   The active digitizer allows you to use your pen to hover over the screen and track the position of your mouse cursor movement.  It also allows for a much better pen/ink experience when filling out an Active Ink form.  Tablet PC manufacturers have been incorporating the active digitizer into their tablets for several years now.  Let's hope that UMPC manufacturers adopt this technology into their products going forward (See press release below.)

http://www.inplaytechnologies.com/markets.php?VW=3

Enhanced user experience with active RF, digital pen technology.
Introduced in 2006, the ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) platform ushered in a new generation of mobile devices. Early specifications only included a passive stylus. InPlay has developed a solution to bring the benefits of active digitizer technology to the UMPC market.

System overview:
  · 7" digitizer: InPlay's single-board solution fits easily behind the LCD screen
  · Active RF pen with InPlay's digital technology
  · Customizable from low-cost corded pen with basic handwriting input capability to feature-rich cordless pen

InPlay's active RF pen adds greater accuracy and enhanced functionality such as hover, tilt and pressure sensitivity, creating a more user-friendly interaction versus a passive stylus. Additionally, there is less wear and tear on the writing surface than experienced with traditional touch screens.

The UMPC platform takes the functionality of a full-size laptop PC into a light, portable device about the size of a paperback book. Most UMPC devices currently on the market offer a touch screen interface with a passive stylus. By adding InPlay's active digitizer and pen, OEMs can offer an enhanced user experience in their next-generation products.

Contact us or learn more about our FinePoint products.

Could Tablet PCs Help Accelerate the Trend Towards Laptops?

The Los Angeles Times has written an article on the trend towards the purchase of laptops over desktops and how tablet PCs could help accelerate this trend.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-laptop1jan01,0,4090816.story?coll=la-home-center

The article is not specific to tablet PCs, but does allude to the fact that "sales are expected to accelerate as devices such as the iPhone and tablet PCs pack more power and utility into ever-smaller packages."  They also make reference to Dell entering the market with the Latitude XT.