Report predicts rugged future for mobile devices

According to a recent report by Venture Development Corp, the worldwide market for enterprise mobile device platforms is forecast to reach $12.3 billion by 2008.

According to a recent report by Venture Development Corp, "Enterprise mobility solutions: mobile devices, WLAN infrastructure, software and services", the worldwide market for enterprise mobile device platforms is forecast to reach $12.3 billion by 2008.

Shipments of mobile computing devices including rugged, "fully rugged" and commercial-grade mobile computers used in enterprise applications hit $8.5 billion in 2003 and are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.7% until 2008.

Based on this outlook, VDC forecasts total mobile units shipped to exceed 12 million by 2008.

Current rugged mobile computing leaders in automatic identification continue to dominate many of the traditional enterprise mobility applications - inventory control, route accounting, WIP tracking etc.

Although commercial-grade suppliers still dominate applications such as field sales automation, light field service and health care.

If commercial-grade suppliers can address end-user concerns of security, reliability and cost of maintenance, they may gain a stronger foothold in this market.

According to Senior VDC Analyst Tim Shea: "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 up front costs associated with commercial-grade devices".

"Unfortunately many of these users will likely pay a greater price down the road".

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