Gartner has warned users to prepare to spend at least $3,000
(£2,000) a year to manage each handheld computer in their
organisation, with costs rising steeply for wireless
products.
Phil Redman, research director for Gartner said, "When assessing
the total costs of wireless mobile products, we found that the more
capable the device, the higher the cost."
With a wireless modem, the annual cost to a business of a handheld
computer rose by $1,392 (£953) to $4,392 (£3,005) per user.
Hardware, software and network services account for 60% of the
costs. Some 30% is taken by operational costs, such as technical
services and support, peer support, application management and
development. A further 10% goes on administration, including
evaluation, implementation and training.
The full findings will be discussed at Gartner's Mobile Business
and Technology 2002 Conference, which takes place next week (17-18
June) in Denmark.
Redman advised businesses to take into account these management
costs when evaluating whether handheld computers gave a good return
on investment.
"Enterprises that link mobile technology investments to job
functions and bottom-line productivity indicators, such as sales
revenue, customer support and internal operations goals, will be
successful at defining a mobile ROI," he said.
To reduce overall TCO when deploying handheld computers in a
wireless LAN, Gartner advised users to consolidate network service
providers, bundle services and aggressively negotiate contracts.