Retailers Seeing More In-Dash Tablet Installs

Since the iPad mini was released last November, some retailers are seeing more demand for tablet in-dash installations.

It’s still a very small market, but certain retailers see it as the future, and they’re getting ready.

ABT a large general consumer electronics retailer in Glenview, IL installs about 5 tablet in dashboards per month. Soundwaves of Tampa, which released a popular YouTube video of an iPad mini install said it is performing a tablet install per week and is still sifting through 3,500 emails it received in response to its video. Others, like Ocala Car Audio in Ocala, FL install a tablet once a month or every other month, and still others are deciding whether to acquire the expertise needed for the category.

Underground Auto Styling of Sarasota, FL installs about 10 tablets a month, almost all iPads and mostly iPad minis. The company launched a video of one of the first motorized iPad installs in a Porsche, which immediately won it world-wide attention. Most of Underground’s business is from out of town where people send in the dashboard to their car.

Underground is even installing iPads in motorcycles. It also builds tablet kits that it sells to other dealers. The iPad mini kits are backordered; the shop sold out of the first run of 50 hand built units, and the next batch should be ready in July, said Owner Jack Palubinski Sr.

We asked Palubinski if he would advise a small dealer in the middle of the country to jump on the tablet bandwagon. He said, “I would. It’s where things are going. [As a specialist] you always want to come out with innovative things…Were getting orders from Germany, Japan, even Dubai. It’s a worldwide phenomenon. Putting a tablet into a vehicle is definitely the next wave.”

One retailer told us he planned to go the local scrap yard to get a dashboard so he can practice iPad installations in the dash.

Eric Carter of Cartronix, in Valparaiso IN, said, he’s building a tablet bracket display for rear seat installations as he’s seeing more and more of his customers carrying a tablet into the store. It’s a sales opportunity. “I’m noticing more and more clients waiting for their vehicle with a tablet,” he said of customers waiting for a backseat camera or other install. When the display is finished he’ll be able to add on to other sales. The next question is then, “Do you take family vacations, look….”

John Samp, mobile audio manager for ABT said demand for in-dash tablet installations began about a year ago and has been steadily growing. Most of his installs are for the iPad mini. The store fabricates its own mounting brackets. Some of the installs are removable and some are permanent. ABT, as a long-time general electronics retailer, actually has an Apple mini store within the larger store. “So we can just grab whatever parts we need,” said Samp. And for those customers doing a permanent install, the car stereo department can just order up a separate tablet just for the car. The average installation usually includes speakers and amplifiers with a ticket price of about $6,000 or $7,000 total.

Although most installs involve iPad minis, an increasing number of customers are installing Nexus 7 tablets. Fifield Fabrications, Brea, CA, which sells tablet kits for the car, said its sales are about 9 to 1 in favor of the iPad mini at present, but recently he’s seen more Nexus 7 kits orders.

Of course there are plenty of other retailers performing tablet installs that we did not interview for this story. If you want to be included in a future story please contact us.

Source: CEoutlook

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