The best android tablet for working in retail

Allow me, if I could, to ask a matter in reply to the question: Is there a spot in our high street shops for tablets?

Blogger David Winefield generally reckons so; his site ‘The Digital Gist’ which is about ‘living on the convergence point of media and technology’ (while for myself, I prefer to commute) has a pleasant article about this very subject. In the piece, David says,

“While the iPad has been the overwhelming choice when it comes to in-store tablet deployments (see: Belly, Square, Nine West, Urban Outfitters), Android is beginning to step out of the shadows. Many startups and brands are beginning to see the value of Android tablets at retail – more economical, open platform, more device choices, etc.  I recently interacted with a Buzztime tablet at Buffalo Wild Wings that was Android-based. It was a great experience, at a fraction of the cost of deploying iPads. Ziosk is another example of a startup looking to deploy tableside tablets at scale. Guess what platform they went with?…Android”.

Because of that familiarity of Android mobile phones and other devices, not to mention the increased developmental potential of the variety, it appears fairly easy to predict that Android will probably grow to dominate in this area (perhaps with brand names licensing special apps that not just work in the shop, but additionally work as a mail-order catalogue). It isn’t even too far-fetched to envisage AR content showing in-store when seen via the pc tablets. All of those ideas would produce purchaser notice, I’m sure.

So, back to the question, if there is a place for tablet pc’s in our shops, what is the best Tablet pc to use in retail?

In fact, my answer could be an Android-based device fashioned by a startup identified in Winefield’s content. This company, called Leaf, sell a tablet PC particularly for shopping. However, additionally they make an app that can be downloaded to further Android tablets (and also the iPhone).

Interestingly, Leaf appears to be aiming its tablet at both companies and individuals, with two separate informational routes showing over on the product’s official blog.  By making the available tablet to as many people as likely, Leaf are really opening up a huge marketplace.

Over on the blog, they are saying, 

“Leaf enables you to efficiently collect payments and interact with customers. We solicit feedback from your customers and provide real-time analytics that make growing your business easy”.

One more area where Android possess the advantage is in cost, as it costs a lot less to kit your users out with Android tablets than it does to give them iPads.

Still imagine this complete tablet thing may be a chapter? Earlier in 2013, Will Kelly of Techrepublic.com talked in regards to the use of tablet pc’s within the retail setting. He believed,

“Machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies enable device-to-device communications without the need for a PC to be in the middle. The retail industry is reaping the potential in M2M and tablets by replacing traditional cash registers with more economical (and mobile) tablets. Such moves are helping customer service by getting staff out from behind a stationary cash register and back on the sales floor. In the back office, M2M and tablets are changing the way that the retail industry conducts inventory and other back office activities to ensure retailers are keeping a competitive edge”.

Now if only they would develop them in Primark.

The best android tablet for working in retail