Motorola Solutions Unveils Android Tablet for Enterprises

Motorola Solutions, the old Motorola sector not being acquired by Google, has introduced its ET1 Tablet, an Android-based device intended for retail and factory use.

The new tablet is ruggedized and has a 7-inch color touch screen, weighs 1.4 lbs and will be available in late December. Options include a barcode scanner, magnetic swipe and payment readers, as well as front- and rear-facing cameras.

Motorola Solutions, based in Schaumburg, Ill., said the suggested list price will be about $1,595, although with volume discounts, it may be less. Officials suggested the average price could be about $1,000.

The Motorola ET1 will join a growing market of enterprise tablets from Cisco Systems and Avaya. It's a completely different sector from the consumer one dominated by Apple's iPad, Samsung's Galaxy Tab and others.

The enterprise product fits into Motorola's legacy supplying handheld devices to industry. The company previously acquired Symbol Technologies, one of the pioneers of the bar code scanner, for nearly $4 billion in 2007.

Symbol products are extensively used in major retailers as well as in factories for manufacturers like Boeing to speed inventory and manufacturing.

Girish Rishi, general manager for mobile computing, said the ET1 would be especially valuable in the retail sector, aiming to make salespeople more intelligent. With a strap, the tablet could be used on the sales floor to speed customer inquiries and handle payments.

Earlier Motorola Solutions tablets had been based on Microsoft Windows but Rishi said the company decided Google's Android OS was more suitable for the ET1.

The company also said it was introducing RhoElements, a Web-based application framework for deploying business applications on mobile devices. Motorola Solutions had acquired private Rhomobile in July.

Shares of Motorola Solutions rose 1.7 percent to $44.39 in late morning. The company's market capitalization is $15.24 billion. Carl Icahn, the activist investor, owns nearly 9 percent of the company.

Shares of its former sibling, Motorola Mobility, rose only slightly, to $38.08, giving it a market capitalization of $11.3 billion. In August, Google announced plans to acquire it for $12.5 billion.