Are iPhones costing companies more in telecommunications expenses?

In today’s marketplace, there are three main competitors for mobile phone communications in the corporate world: iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. As of late, iPhone sales have moved upwards of the 20 million mark while BlackBerry has been on the decline. Android has slowly but surely been making a play at iPhone sales but Apple’s divine reach seems too bright to eclipse in the foreseeable future. According to a recent study conducted by MindWireless, during the third quarter of 2011, iPhone wireless expenses cost enterprises approximately 80% more than BlackBerry’s.

To put that into perspective, if an enterprise of 1,000 users switches from BlackBerry to iPhone, they can expect their upfront costs to rise by over $100,000 and their annual costs to rise by over $900,000. So what accounts for this massive increase in spending? (We’re talking an increase of nearly $1 million in telecommunications expenses.) Essentially, it comes from the iPhone’s innovative and ever-interactive platform – the more things you can do on your phone, the more data you’re going to consume and people are doing them. In addition, international roaming rates for iPhones carry 50% higher charges.

On top of that, simply acquiring an arsenal of iPhones for your enterprise can increase your expenses outright. They’re double the cost of a BlackBerry. Average monthly data consumption? Over 200 megabytes higher with iPhones, most of which is from text and picture messages. End over end, iPhone both outperforms and out-costs BlackBerry. For enterprises, this presents an increasingly difficult decision: is the cost of the iPhone worth its increased features?

Is it worth appeasing your employees’ demands for an iPhone plan? Possibly, depending on your business, but if you’re approaching the idea of providing iPhone telecommunication options to your employees without serious consideration, you could quickly be placing your telecommunications on austerity measures if your bills get away from you. And judging by the data, they very quickly could. For the last decade or so, BlackBerrys have been the go-to device for businesses.

It’s ease of use and its adaptability to e-mail caused it to spring to the forefront of corporate mobile telecommunications. But now as iPhone features become more engrossing and cover more and more needs, it’s starting to look like the iPhone might be a necessary evil in the telecommunication world.