Mobile and Wireless Systems for Business -
The Steps to Make them Profitable

Part 1 - What is Mobile Computing ?
Part 2 - Processes and methodologies to follow
Part 3 - Vertical markets where wireless and mobile is driving profit
Part 4 - Hardware, devices and selection criteria firms need to use
Part 5 - Hardware choice continued
Part 6 - Software, applications and selection criteria firms need to use

This is the 4th article in a series on using Mobile computing. There are many considerations for firms to consider when building mobile and wireless-internet based systems. It is a complicated topic and involves ego’s, hardware, software, networks, processes and most importantly making profit !

Topics to be covered

	1.	Processes and methodologies to follow
	2.	Vertical markets where wireless and mobile is driving profit
	3.	Hardware, devices and selection criteria firms need to use
	4.	Software, applications and selection criteria firms need to use
	5.	ROI models
	6.	Real World examples and Case Studies of Wireless architectures
	7.	The Future of Standards, devices and networks and their impact on business productivity and processes in Canada

3. Hardware, devices and selection criteria firms need to use - part 2

In the last article we determined that the critical question is
‘What device will my End Users want to use and use effectively?’

You will need to get end users testing devices and software almost from day one to get them to buy in and help you design and build a system that works. The end user device choice will also depend upon:

  What do we use today ?

  What OS do we want to standardize on ?

  Your Budget: Can I buy new or do I need to use what we have plus a few add-ons ?

  Where are they using the devices - how robust does the hardware need to be ?

[note on price, it includes ‘all in costs’ such as software, communication time etc.]

Though some people may disagree on the allocation of device by market the above grid is what we are witnessing in the marketplace regarding device choice by area and by purpose.

For instance very few integrated CRM or SFA applications running on a Palm operating system are in existence. Likewise RIM Blackberry devices are too constrained with small memory and slow processor speed to warrant a deployment of a heavy data intensive app that would be used by field forces or couriers for instance. Wireless and mobile enabled laptops can obviously run larger more complicated applications than a PDA and might be suitable but they are intrusive, heavy, expensive and temperature sensitive. Cell phones are WAP and URL based devices to view data only and suffer interface limitations. Smart phones and hybrid PDA phones combine the ease of use of a cell and PDA but have memory and speed issues as well as a low current market penetration. PDAs are smaller, run many apps, but are prone to theft, loss and have usually 64 MB in memory vs. 512 MB for most laptops and with less processing power are slower than laptops, but more powerful than smart phones.

So what to do ?

To choose a proper device understand the business domain; the data that will be used; the data load and memory load that is required to run the app quickly and your end user and what he will need to do his job properly. The amount of viewable real estate, memory and processor constraints will determine the type of application you will run on the device. For some web reviews of devices you can visit:
www.bargainpda.com/
www.pcworld.com
www.hardwarecentral.dealtime.com
www.pdastreet.com
www.stargeek.com
www.pdabuyersguide.com

The below tables consist only of some main products and is not meant to be an exhaustive list of all products for each vendor. Latest model are given only in certain product areas. As you can see the litany of device choice will impact your software and application choice [next article].

Typical Low End - [Retail, Executive, Emailing based or Query based]

Mid Tier - [Field Forces, Business Applications in the Field]
Pocket PC [Mobile 2003 OS], Palm [Palm OS], Tablets [XP], Smart Phones [Java], Laptops [Win 2000]

Higher End - [Heavy Outside usage - Logistics, Warehouse, Temperature sensitive]
Symbol [Mobile 2003], Intermec [Mobile 2003], Psion [Symbian], Falcon [Dos], Percon [Dos], various Laptops [Win 2000]

The market for mobile devices will surpass the PC market in a few years in volume and in dollars. The question for most firms is not if they will mobilize their internal and external employees, partners and even clients, but only when and with what weapons?

Hardware choice impacts your software choice. Both need to be based on sound business principles – what is our budget ? what data do we want people to use ? what is easy and fast to use and what standards will we pick for our firm ?

Next article - choosing a device and then choosing software.

Craig Read Craig is a director of IT at a Toronto based mobile and wireless firm. Craig also founded the Toronto Wireless User Group which now has well over a hundred members www.torwug.org He can be reached at c.read@m-trilogix.com