Symbol goes "low end" with $695 MC1000
By Marc Perton 
posted Jul 19th 2005 5:32AM
posted Jul 19th 2005 5:32AM
Symbol Technologies is going for the low-end with a new Windows
CE handheld — if you can call $695 low-end, that is. The company's new MC1000 may not be cheap from a consumer
perspective, but for portable data collection for retail or manufacturing businesses, it's a veritable bargain, given
that the MC1000 is a ruggedized unit that includes a laser scanner and can be expanded via SDIO to add Bluetooth or
WiFi.
I will likely be getting one of these soon. I am a letter carrier, and though I can't be sure of the individual model features and such, the USPS just bought several hundred thousand Windows CE scanner units from Symbol. I am betting this is that and with the volume Symbol got from the USPS buy, they can offer them much more cheaply to others.
I expect a monochrome screen and accent on rugged. I also expect our models to lack the memory card slot and have the OS locked up very tight to prevent misuse or conflicts that cause lockups. It will "have a brain the size of a planet, but be left to watch the ship in the parking garage". 300MZ doing work that an old Motorola 6500 running at 32MZ could do.
I will likely be getting one of these soon. I am a letter carrier, and though I can't be sure of the individual model features and such, the USPS just bought several hundred thousand Windows CE scanner units from Symbol. I am betting this is that and with the volume Symbol got from the USPS buy, they can offer them much more cheaply to others.
I expect a monochrome screen and accent on rugged. I also expect our models to lack the memory card slot and have the OS locked up very tight to prevent misuse or conflicts that cause lockups. It will "have a brain the size of a planet, but be left to watch the ship in the parking garage". 300MZ doing work that an old Motorola 6500 running at 32MZ could do.