Navman's parent company MiTAC lands in Australia

Taiwanese electronics vendor MiTAC has expanded into Australia and New Zealand with its MioWORK range of ruggedised tablets and accessories.

The company, which owns GPS brand Navman, said it identified a gap in the Australian market for "versatile, rugged and customisable Android-based mobile computing equipment".

MiTAC will launch with three tablets in Australia, targeting fleet management, logistics, field services, healthcare and retail verticals, and revealed the first two.

The first is 7-inch MioWORK F700 Series tablet for fleet management and field services teams; the other is the smaller 5-inch MioWORK A500 Series for logistics, asset management and courier services.

A spokesperson told CRN that MiTAC plans to sell its products through distributors and resellers in Australia.

“We’ve built a strong business here on navigation products with leading brands Navman, MiVUE and Magellan working in both B2C and B2B, but we see a real opportunity to capitalise on the strong demand for affordable, ruggedised, secure Android mobile devices by introducing successful products from our parent company,” MiTAC ANZ managing director Wendy Hammond said.

The company said its products would also be supported by local sales and service teams, supported by new hire Bruce Wong as enterprise business development manager. Wong was previously regional sales manager for APAC at Zebra Technologies, and has held positions with Samsung and Trimble.

 “Too often customers put up with products or solutions that simply don’t offer the best value, and don’t have the degree of support and the ability to respond to issues quickly, and turn around service in Australia, increasing productivity," Wong said.

“Moreover the need for business to move to reliable, secure and affordable Android-based mobile solutions is increasing every day. The global market is predicted to increase seven percent over the next five years and we see Australia being in lockstep with this.”