Hewlett-Packard Corp Inc.’s Personal Systems Division today announced a new set of mobile devices including tablets designed to meet the special needs of specific verticals. The tablets come with security, software and services designed for mobile.

These tablets are designed specifically for the needs of office workers and markets in which consumer consumption devices have proven insufficient, said Ron Coughlin, Senior VP and General Manager of the HP Personal Systems Group in the announcement Webinar. For example, HP’s new 8” and 12” general office tablets run Windows 8.1 on the same Intel x86 environment as office desktops and laptops. This means that they run all the desktop clients out of the box and other software that IT has built to support knowledge workers, and they can be managed with all the same tools and methodologies IT already has in place. The apps use the familiar Windows GUI and software.

HP’s Pro Slate 8 and Pro Slate 12 tablets are designed as laptop replacements with magnesium alloy cases. They include a handwriting digitizer and a special HP Duet Pen that can digitize writing and capture drawings on paper, for tasks like signing electronic documents. They also come with detachable keyboards that include a second battery, giving them a total 10-hour battery life according to HP.

The Elite x2 1011 G1 is a lightweight 11.6-inch diagonal with an aluminum case that runs Windows 8 Pro and meets military specs for durability. It’s designed as a mobile extension device to keep workers productive when they are away from their desks.

Ruggedized designs

While HP clearly needs a strong stable of mobile tablets to maintain its position as a market leader in office end-user devices as that market moves from laptops to tablets, the real excitement in the announcement comes with the four ruggedized models that were designed for specific markets. All of these were designed with major partners including Cerner in healthcare, the Baltimore, MD, Public School System in K-12 education, and SAP in field service and equipment management. They are designed to survive a seven-foot drop, which HP demonstrated on stage during the webinar, and with special features to meet the needs of the specific verticals.

For example, the HP ElitePad 1000 G2 Healthcare Tablet has a special case with silver micro-particles that kill bacteria on contact to prevent the device from spreading disease.

The ElitePad 1000 G2 Rugged Tablet is designed to survive immersion in snow. dust and sand and has a 20-hour battery life. It includes a standard 9-pin connector so it can interface directly with the large number of field devices that use this physical interface. Both it and the healthcare tablet have a totally enclosed integral smartcard slot to protect the card and avoid problems with a protruding card snagging on cables.

The HP Pro Tablet 10 EE is designed for the rigors of K-12 public school use. To keep costs and weight down, it runs Android on the Intel Atom chip set and is sized for children’s hands. It includes an on-board “garage” for an optional stylus and a hard-wired keyboard option. The keyboard contains no processing and is even powered from the tablet, so IT does not have to manage it as a separate device. The tablet has a beveled front edge to protect the screen when it is left face down on a desk or floor.

The HP Retail Case for ElitePad provides a versatile mobile and fixed POS device for employees, including two built-in cradle areas for mounting payment devices and the ability to dock on existing POS terminals. It includes hand and shoulder straps and ports to physically attach a PED or PEN mobile payment device from any of several leading manufacturers and accept EMV, NFC, MSR payments and most digital wallets.

HP and partners such as SAP have built a foundation of software and services to support these devices over the last year said Coughlin. “Today 1.3 billion workers worldwide – one-seventh of the world’s population – will be mobile. Mobility is transforming the workplace, how people work, play and live. But only 46 percent of companies say they know what they are doing with mobile. HP can fill that need.”

Images courtesy Hewlett-Packard Corp. Inc.