Smartphones had never been this popular. Recent surveys point to the large impacts made to the industry trend by RIMM, Palm, Apple and lately Google too. Almost a forty percent of the cell phone consumers report the ownership of at least one Smartphone.
Moving back by half a decade, only a tenth of the population were into using their phones for more than just talk-and-text. Well, surely technology’s been advancing and our needs have been on the rise too. It was an easy categorization earlier. Blackberrys for email(and push), the Sony Ericsson’s for quality music(we still haven’t forgotten their trademark MegaBass), the MotoRazr for style fanatics and the Windows Mobile based devices for their touch based UI.
Coming back to the present, the scenario’s vastly different. Even the average not so tech-savvy consumer wants a lot back from his cellular device. He’s paying for the device after all. The high school students need fast texting and IM support on the go. Corporate users need emails to push into their inbox soon as it arrives. The social animal in all of us needs to share that latest photo or video to Flickr, Youtube, Facebook etc. Next comes the mobile browsing – all of us who’ve used the iPhone or the Android devices know how much of a bliss this is, but more on that later.
So, we observe that as our devices become more capable and the networks turning faster we are simply able to do all that we had wanted, just with greater ease and more significantly doing so while we are on the go.
Now coming back to Apple’s iPhone. Introduced early 2007, this device surely has created a lot of media buzz since then. I don’t deny being a fan but I’m not talking about its abilities here. The iPhone has been a breakthrough device and here’s how. Apple marked the beginning of a revolution when it announced the iPhone. A change not just at the consumer end but at the production side as well. It was an end to the heavy user interfaces and stylus navigation. Apple not just gave us a good device, with shortcomings of course, but also prompted a horse race. As expected we got a huge response from the industry. Almost every manufacturer responded back giving us better devices from the Blackberry Storm to Palm Pre and now also the Motorola Droid. Again, these are just a few examples.
The consumers are indeed very smart and they can judge well. As a manufacturer you cannot sell the same technology for endless time. Having mentioned that, we all remember what happened to the MotoRazr. That, my friends, was one of the largest selling handsets in the history of phones. However, Motorola failed to innovate and come up with as much appeal again and thus its falling market share. The key to the industry and in turn to greater market shares is Innovation.
And there goes my first post on ShoutMeLoud. I’ve been told that Guest Authors receive a very warm welcome in here. I can assure you of one thing that comments and criticism is both more than welcome. Do hit me back with your opinion on the growing Smartphone trend. Also, I’d love to know about your favorite cellular device and one best feature that you love wouldn’t hurt to share.
Related posts:
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- iPad Verdict
- Nokia N97 Review: Social Media Mobile Phone
- Nokia Ovi Store VS Apple App Store
- How to buy a new mobile phone?
- Access Gmail on your mobile with Mobile Gmail
- Shazam : Identify Music Using your Mobile
- Motorola Droid: It is Worth the Try
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Sahel,
Welcome to Shoutmeloud! Looking forward for more articles from you. While I have nothing against your article, I find this trend of going to small gadgets crazy.
According to me, there is no use of spending 20k Rupees on a gadget that would not last for more than 2-3 years. Even if a smart phone or mobile lasts for more than 2 years, who wants to keep the same mobile for such a long period?
That 20k can buy you 3 Flatron 21 inch latest technology Television sets, or it can buy a fancy desktop computer with latest LCD 19 inch computer, or it can buy 2 latest 10 MP professional digital cameras, or even a Sony handy cam, or a fancy Playstation 3 or XBOX console.
What I am trying to say is that the equivalent value for money is not delivered in a mobile phone or a smart phone. One may feel good about flaunting their new smart phone to their friends, but unfortunately this happiness fades away in a span of few weeks.
So in a single line, smart phones are definitely not worth their price!
Hi Sridhar, firstly thanks for adding that new dimension to this post. greatly appreciate that. you are very much right in your say but we are discussing the need driven consumers. You are absolutely right when we talk about flaunt value. flaunt value of any article goes down rapidly with time.
however, when it comes to functionality, you have to go for them. when you need push mail, fully featured mobile browser etc. its worth the price.
Relay good post Sahel
Thanks.
Have you forgotten nokia completely? They have been making smartphones for years and they have been very popular in europe. Most of the technical details and ideas have been come up with Nokia and then other firms have copied it. Nokia has had cameras in their phones for years and I remember even running an S60 apache server in my nokia over three years ago. When you write these articles, please remeber all the mobile-phone manufacturers and not just the ones that are popular in your country.
firstly we are not discussing phone brands here but the metamorphosis to smartphones. moreover, according to current market stats nokia is losing all its shares to other manufacturers. anyway we should keep manufacturer competition till another post. i’m sure we have plenty of lg, htc n samsung lovers too.
and is there any issue with including one’s name? referencing someone as mr. blog handbook sounds cliche.
Just using it to make the link to my site look more normal. Mr. Handbook will suffice