Glossary / Total cost of ownership (TCO)

Total cost of ownership (TCO)

The full lifetime cost of owning a device — service, logistics, downtime, support — not just its purchase price. A low device price can still hide a ruinous TCO.

Introduced in Chapter 13 — Lean Hardware of Tangibles.

Related terms

• Customer lifetime value (CLV) — The total profit a customer generates over the whole relationship with a brand.
• Tooling — The molds, jigs, and fixtures built to mass-produce a part.
• Unboxing — The customer's first physical encounter with a product out of its package — a designed moment of first impression, not an afterthought.
• Three axes of disruption — The three dimensions a killer feature moves along at once — user benefit, technology, and business model — that together can redefine a category.