previous story
|
next story
|
| Zolved TechNews |
Cost of ownership.
I found this good rundown of what to look for when selecting a smartphone. We had many discussions about smartphones when Zolved was getting off the ground. We knew that people who had employer-issued PDAs or smartphones would be looking to get one that was for only personal use. Then they'd need help configuring, using, and troubleshooting them (that's where Zolved comes in!).
Part of the discussion was what to call them and what constitutes a "smart" phone. It was one of those great circular conversations since pretty much any cellphone made in the last year can display email, webpages, calendars, contacts, etc. I liked "a mobile phone with a QWERTY keyboard". Cellphone manufactures seem to use smartphone to mean "Any phone in our current line up."
Back to the article. What caught my eye was Pierre Khawand's concise explanation of "the cost of ownership":
2. Don’t be blinded by “features”, consider the “behind-the-scene” factors
(for points a to e, go here).
f) And last but not least the cost of ownership. Please note that it is not the cost of the smartphone that I am emphasizing here, but the cost of ownership over a two year period for instance. This would include the accessories, the add-on applications you might need, the voice and data plans, and any additional charges you might incur.
For me, this is such an important factor in consumer electronics, especially as the convergence of technologies continue to change the cost of ownership. The concept of Total Cost of Ownership is well known to corporations. When buying equipment or software, the company should factor into the price what it cost the company to deploy, train staff, maintain and house. The new landscape for consumers has been resembling this more and more. A hardware purchase (cellphone, VOIP device, computer) is now inevitably tied to a subscription with a service provider, making it more difficult to make the right, individual choice.
Part of the discussion was what to call them and what constitutes a "smart" phone. It was one of those great circular conversations since pretty much any cellphone made in the last year can display email, webpages, calendars, contacts, etc. I liked "a mobile phone with a QWERTY keyboard". Cellphone manufactures seem to use smartphone to mean "Any phone in our current line up."
Back to the article. What caught my eye was Pierre Khawand's concise explanation of "the cost of ownership":
2. Don’t be blinded by “features”, consider the “behind-the-scene” factors
(for points a to e, go here).
f) And last but not least the cost of ownership. Please note that it is not the cost of the smartphone that I am emphasizing here, but the cost of ownership over a two year period for instance. This would include the accessories, the add-on applications you might need, the voice and data plans, and any additional charges you might incur.
For me, this is such an important factor in consumer electronics, especially as the convergence of technologies continue to change the cost of ownership. The concept of Total Cost of Ownership is well known to corporations. When buying equipment or software, the company should factor into the price what it cost the company to deploy, train staff, maintain and house. The new landscape for consumers has been resembling this more and more. A hardware purchase (cellphone, VOIP device, computer) is now inevitably tied to a subscription with a service provider, making it more difficult to make the right, individual choice.
|
del.icio.us
stumble
printcopyright © 2007, IPTouch, Inc.
|
previous story
|
next story
|
