The global market for enterprise mobile device platforms is forecast to reach $12.3 billion by 2008, according to a report by Venture Development Corporation, “Enterprise Mobility Solutions: Mobile Devices, WLAN Infrastructure, Software and Services.”
Shipments of mobile computing devices including rugged, “fully rugged” and commercial-grade mobile computers used in enterprise applications reached $8.5 billion in 2003 and should grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.7 percent through 2008. Accordingly, VDC forecasts total mobile units shipped to exceed 12 million by 2008.
Current rugged mobile computing providers in automatic identification continue to dominate many traditional enterprise mobility applications, such as inventory control, route accounting and WIP tracking, according to VDC. Commercial-grade suppliers still control applications such as field sales automation, light field service and health care.
“There is an ongoing battle in the marketplace to convince customers that rugged solutions are the more cost-effective alternative, which proves true in many applications according to VDC’s recent TCO analysis. However, we find that even though IT spending is up, many customers are still faced with budget constraints, which is forcing them to sacrifice reliability and uptime associated with rugged devices for lower upfront costs associated with commercial-grade devices,” said senior VDC analyst Tim Shea.
