Japanese Insurer Adopts Windows Tablets

At a time when the Apple iPad is the dominant tablet in business and consumer markets, a life insurer in Japan is bucking the trend with an announcement that it will deploy 30,000 Windows 8 tablets to its sales personnel.

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance, which had about $2.6 billion of life insurance in force in fiscal 2011, will conduct sales activities using the new tablets across Japan starting in September 2013. The company hopes to "enhance communication with its customers by using videos and other content to explain its products," according to a statement. It also expects to streamline contract processing and eliminate the need for printed documentation.

The tablets being used are manufactured by Japanese IT giant Fujitsu in partnership with Microsoft Japan. Fujitsu will "develop a specialized Windows 8 tablet to improve customer service by digitizing procedures and providing beneficial information in an easily understandable format," the statement adds.

The development comes as Microsoft has both struggled to encourage Windows 8 adoption and break into the tablet market after tepid sales of its Surface line. Tablets for insurance aren't unusual in the Japanese market, however: Chartis' Japan unit, AIU insurance, deployed iPads to field personnel following the Tohuku earthquake in 2011.

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio