IDG Contributor Network: IoT is coming to a warehouse near you

It’s beyond debate that the smartphone is profoundly transforming many industries and creating new opportunities such as the Internet of Things (IoT). The impact of mobile technologies goes beyond consumer segments such as wearables, virtual reality or connected cameras. A new breed of industrial devices is now built on smartphone innovations. Whether we’re discussing health care or smart energy, advancements in many mobile technologies are leading to the design of a new class of enterprise IoT applications – and fundamentally transforming industrial handheld computing.

Nearly as old as the mobile phone, industrial handhelds have been common tools of large commercial enterprises for logistics and warehousing workflows for some 20 years. Made possible by advances in computing power, industrial handhelds have advanced in capabilities along a trajectory that has tracked advances in mobile computing generally. But it is the revolution of the smartphone – the handheld computer that untethered the internet – that is enabling development of new industrial handhelds that will make those used today seem like the calculator you used in high school. The leading suppliers of industrial handhelds are keenly aware of this and are actively leveraging smartphone features into their products.

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