SCKT...stock_peeker: Very true. Expect if you are doing a lot of scanning then the difference is like trying to use the scanner at the self check out counter at the grocery store vs a designated barcode scanner. The speed makes it worthwhile. Socket has a YouTube video out comparing an app scanner on the iPhone vs a handheld unit. They even say for 3-4 items the app is a better choice. But when you start getting into numbers while doing inventory (ex. librarian taking 50 books out of the "return bin" and checking them in) it's a different ballgame.
Handheld barcode scanners are a $1.3B/year business. There is a recent article that states the use of tablets by businesses and gov services is increasing at a rate faster than they adopted the internet when it first came out. Socket has a 1D (just being introduced) and 2D Apple Certified scanner (it means they are certified to allow communication back/forth between the units. It's a special designation and comes with a Software Developers Code approved by Apple). Intermec and Motorola don't have that. Right now they are early adopters for the smartphone/tablet use by businesses (especially when it comes to inventory---of pharmaceutical, retail, warehouse).
The scanner side of Socket will grow nicely. Here is a response I received from Dave Dunlap, CFO, after 4th Q results when I contacted him about the 100+ SDK's sold already: "We sell a single SDK that covers Apple, Google, Blackberry and Windows. Thus we can’t tell just from the sales numbers the developer’s target operating system. (note: from me: this SDK costs $1300 and allows customization with the developers software. The developer though gets $5 back for every new scanner registered). However, as we also offer 10 hours of support, we can usually make that determination when the developer calls. We are actively interacting with about 35 developers today and we expect that number to grow as developers get to the point where they are integrating our barcode scanning calls into their applications. About 60% of those we interact with are working on Apple applications and another 30% on Android applications. What we don’t yet know is how to extrapolate to the 65 or so for which we haven’t yet established contact".
A year from now Socket will easily have 80-100+ partners using their scanners. Some of them will be big (ex. Lightspeed for iPad only uses the Socket 7xi scanner. They have 120+ worldwide retail resellers selling their Point of Sale system). The nice thing is that all of the sales by partners don't cost Socket any money---they just sell them the scanners and the partners do all the work.
The scanner side of the business is a guaranteed grower. If they could get the Somo PDA side of their business to grow equally well than we are looking at a multi-bagger here. I still have reservations on this side of the business until I see more sales to former HP iPaq customers and see how their new Somo 655 unit is accepted.
