Fujitsu unveils Stylistic M532 Android 4.0 business tablet

New tablet combines Android Ice Cream Sandwich with built-in security and management tools

Fujitsu is adding an Android device to its enterprise tablet line-up, offering businesses a choice of platforms while challenging Apple's iPad with a better set of corporate features, including built-in security, management tool integration, and support for Exchange email.

Set to be available from mid-June, the Fujitsu Stylistic M532 is based on a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor with 1GB memory, 32GB of Flash Storage, and runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The 10.1in device is expected to carry a price tag of £476 including VAT.

Fujitsu said it is seeing strong interest in the Android platform from the corporate market, and has designed the Stylistic M532 based on feedback to the Stylistic Q550 Windows 7 tablet the firm launched last year.

"The Stylistic M532 is in response to a changing market. Bring your own device (BYOD) has really kicked off in the last 12 months, and businesses are identifying specific roles for Windows and Android tablets," Fujitsu mobile client marketing manager Dave Shaw told V3.

Shaw said that the Stylistic M532 complements rather than replaces the Q550, which Fujitsu will continue to offer.

While the Stylistic M532 looks like a consumer tablet, the device comes pre-loaded with applications and features designed to appeal more to corporate users.

These include Norton Tablet Security with a 12 month subscription, an embedded Absolute Software Computrace agent, the ThinkFree Mobile office suite, the Nitrodesk TouchDown email app and support for Fujitsu Managed Mobile, the firm's cloud-based mobile device management suite.

With Fujitsu Managed Mobile, administrators can provision and configure devices, push out applications, enforce policies, and remotely lock and wipe lost or stolen devices. It supports Apple, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone as well as Android.

Also included are Citrix Receiver and VMware View remote desktop clients, enabling the Stylistic M532 to be used as an access device for Windows sessions in a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployment.

To make the Stylistic M532 more attractive in this latter scenario, Fujitsu is making available a desktop cradle accessory that offers an Ethernet LAN connection and HDMI video output, and users can also connect the same Bluetooth keyboard and mouse that Fujitsu offers for the Stylistic Q550.

Unlike the Stylistic Q550, Fujitsu has not pre-loaded any user interface overlay or skin on the Stylistic M532, "so we can push out future updates to the operating system as quickly as possible," Shaw said.

"With this platform, we feel we have a real proposition. Users can have a desirable, sexy device with the corporate productivity and security features you would expect from Fujitsu," he added.

Fujitsu is also planning to ship a Windows 8 tablet later this year, once Microsoft's next generation operating system is available.

With the Stylistic Q550 and now the Stylistic M532, Fujitsu has both x86 and ARM-based tablet devices in production, but Shaw would not be drawn on which platform the company is planning to use for Windows 8.

"Both options are under investigation," he said.