Should Ricoh Offer a Rebate When Dealers Buy the New Smart Op Panel?

I've yet to see these in the Canadian market. When did they get launched in the US?

Yes that means  I have a lot of time left as well but I wouldn't wish this guys work ethic on any sales manager. He is the laziest person I have probably ever managed. He is pretty much just wasting oxygen in my office. He is a straight commission employee and a pain in the a$$. We put him on straight commission and let him do what he wants in a very rural territory because we are 99.9999% sure he is going to sue us when he quits or is fired. He has a long history of lawsuits against employers we found out and has already mentioned it a few times.

Any way back on topic, it was very funny how excited he got over the panel when the young guys/girls were like "ok thats nice, whatever."

Wow!! 70 years old and still selling!!  That's awesome, that means I have a lot of time left

We have probably put it on 3 machines since it came out and the funny thing was it was our sales rep who is almost 70 years old. He loves that panel. My younger guys could care less it seems. King of backwards in my mind.

I haven't quite found the practicality of it other than making everything "look" like a tablet. If they could make it as functional as the new Samsung 10.1 tablet on the MFP's it may become more practical. Just my $0.02

Honestly, haven't seen any benefits to it.  Fluff.  We put one on a showroom machine and that's it.  If anything it was buggy and un-impressive.  Why would I spend the extra money to install it?  What am I missing?

birdie

Where did you hear that?  My guess is that it's the same as the one that is available for the MP3353 series.  

Out of all the units I've sold I've only ordered the smart op panel 3 times.  So, if I'm hearing right, the new 03 series of black systems will have the smart op panel that is unlocked?  meaning no browser unit is required and it will be a true android tablet?

I order the Smart Op Panel with almost every one of these I sell and get nothing but rave reviews.  The only exceptions are with customers that are using or considering using embedded solutions since Ricoh has yet to tell us that embedded solutions will work with the Smart Op Panel.

Once launched It looks like we will   be able to order the NEW BW series machines with the smart panel factory installed , I'm guessing no rebate on the 03 color series.  Has everyone done a lot of these smart panels?