What Makes a Smartphone Super?
The smartphone has grown from a fully featured cellular phone to a mini-mobile computer with rich telecommunication features and functionalities practically sized to fit in a pocket. Nokia once touted their high-end devices as mobile computers. In a sense, they really are. More so today, only their difference in size separates smartphones from computers.
A smartphone is a mobile phone that has advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. Feature phones of yesteryears were the smartphones of their time. A smartphone today can be the feature phone of tomorrow.
A super smartphone is still a smartphone but that which can survive the advances of the times without eventually necessarily getting categorized as a feature phone. Consider this: when the 1st generation of Apple's iPhone came out, it was regarded as a super smartphone, and it remains to be so today (upgradeable to iPhone OS 3.1.3). The feature of the iPhone that makes it super is the fact that you can install modern mobile applications to it that can keep it current. Having survived 3 generations of the iPhone, the 1st generation iPhone can actually survive 1 - 2 more generations before it truly loses its appeal (perhaps only because its performance would be too far behind already).
Powerful devices have been released that feature multi-core processors, multi-core graphics processors, high-end connectivity capabilities and more than enough storage capacities. Typically, computers may be reasonably upgraded every 3 years -- perhaps seriously every 5 years. For mobile phones, on the other hand, 2 years would be more than long enough to itch for a new one. Like building and selling a new car, enhanced power, improved performance and attractive styling contribute to getting customers to upgrade their smartphones sooner.
The hardware is only one of the aspects of the smartphone that can make it super. Beyond what the hardware can promise is the platform that gives it its character: the operating system. iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone and WebOS are some of the most popular mobile OSes today. These mobile OSes practically shrunk the modern computer as we know it.
Today, the maturity and success of a smartphone can be measured by the number of developers and customers supporting and using it. In reality, besides the hardware and the operating system, what's happening behind the scenes is what's actually making the smartphone super. As boasted by the Nokia+Microsoft deal, the new way to sell a mobile platform is by the ecosystem that goes with it.
This ecosystem paradigm actually makes sense and presents the formula for success (or failure). A mobile platform must be backed by the number of support it can get from partners and the developer, consumer and business communities. These are where Apple and Google are currently strong. Smartly, it should be where the battle should be played.
As Steve Ballmer put it during his keynote at the Mobile World Congress 2011: Users today aren't just picking a phone, "they're choosing a platform." Radically, it's true. It's something transparent to the users who appreciate mostly the result. The backbone that's making the smartphone super is precisely what's happening behind the scenes: supplier deals, manufacturing deals, operator deals, partner deals, developer deals, business deals, etc. Unlike computers that can be sold as appliances, super smartphones must be sold as a package that delivers value to businesses and consumers alike. What makes a smartphone super is the whole package: business-wise, that which seems to naturally sell its value proposition; consumer-wise, that which seems to naturally deliver its value to people's lives.
A smartphone is a mobile phone that has advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. Feature phones of yesteryears were the smartphones of their time. A smartphone today can be the feature phone of tomorrow.
A super smartphone is still a smartphone but that which can survive the advances of the times without eventually necessarily getting categorized as a feature phone. Consider this: when the 1st generation of Apple's iPhone came out, it was regarded as a super smartphone, and it remains to be so today (upgradeable to iPhone OS 3.1.3). The feature of the iPhone that makes it super is the fact that you can install modern mobile applications to it that can keep it current. Having survived 3 generations of the iPhone, the 1st generation iPhone can actually survive 1 - 2 more generations before it truly loses its appeal (perhaps only because its performance would be too far behind already).
Powerful devices have been released that feature multi-core processors, multi-core graphics processors, high-end connectivity capabilities and more than enough storage capacities. Typically, computers may be reasonably upgraded every 3 years -- perhaps seriously every 5 years. For mobile phones, on the other hand, 2 years would be more than long enough to itch for a new one. Like building and selling a new car, enhanced power, improved performance and attractive styling contribute to getting customers to upgrade their smartphones sooner.
The hardware is only one of the aspects of the smartphone that can make it super. Beyond what the hardware can promise is the platform that gives it its character: the operating system. iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone and WebOS are some of the most popular mobile OSes today. These mobile OSes practically shrunk the modern computer as we know it.
Today, the maturity and success of a smartphone can be measured by the number of developers and customers supporting and using it. In reality, besides the hardware and the operating system, what's happening behind the scenes is what's actually making the smartphone super. As boasted by the Nokia+Microsoft deal, the new way to sell a mobile platform is by the ecosystem that goes with it.
This ecosystem paradigm actually makes sense and presents the formula for success (or failure). A mobile platform must be backed by the number of support it can get from partners and the developer, consumer and business communities. These are where Apple and Google are currently strong. Smartly, it should be where the battle should be played.
As Steve Ballmer put it during his keynote at the Mobile World Congress 2011: Users today aren't just picking a phone, "they're choosing a platform." Radically, it's true. It's something transparent to the users who appreciate mostly the result. The backbone that's making the smartphone super is precisely what's happening behind the scenes: supplier deals, manufacturing deals, operator deals, partner deals, developer deals, business deals, etc. Unlike computers that can be sold as appliances, super smartphones must be sold as a package that delivers value to businesses and consumers alike. What makes a smartphone super is the whole package: business-wise, that which seems to naturally sell its value proposition; consumer-wise, that which seems to naturally deliver its value to people's lives.
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