Innovation in Smartphone Industry | Report

Running head: INNOVATION IN SMARTPHONE INDUSTRY
Innovation in Smartphone Industry
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INNOVATION IN SMARTPHONE INDUSTRY
Mobile phone industry is one of the most innovative segments within the ICT sector
where smartphone is rapidly becoming a standard configuration among different types of
mobile devices1. Along with the launch of the original iPhone, it was Apple who redefined
what “smartphone” actually is and has accelerated the convergence of the traditional mobile
telephony, personal computing and internet services into a new industry. Today smartphone,
having all the computer abilities, has entered into the everyday life of people. This paper shall
elaborate on the discussing about the innovations in smartphone industry.
Modern smartphones have taken a twenty six years long journey to reach the current
2020 and it has changed a lot all through these years. What were once a large luxury item has
now become small and compact device that humans just cannot think to live without. About
77 per cent of Australians own smartphones as per the data provided by Farley et al. and 97
per cent of Australians own a cell phone of some or the other kind2. Evolution of smartphone
is very important to understand as it has gone through a range of improvements and
innovations in terms of technology and customer trends.
In the year 1992, IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) had revealed a
device that had more capabilities compared to the earlier cell phones. It was known to be as
“Simon Personal Communicator” but was not launched in the market until 19943. It used to
have several elements that people attribute to the present smartphone devices and they
include- e-mail, touch screen, notes and calendars, fax, applications and other different
widgets. However, it was not that popular as it was advanced for its time and majority of the
customers then did not jump on the board. However, it has nothing like that of the modern
1 Cecere, Grazia, Nicoletta Corrocher, and Riccardo David Battaglia. "Innovation and competition in the
smartphone industry: Is there a dominant design?." Telecommunications Policy 39.3-4 (2015): 162-175.
2 Farley, Helen, et al. "How do students use their mobile devices to support learning? A case study from an
Australian regional university." Journal of Interactive Media in Education 2015.1 (2015).
3 Ozturkcan, Selcen, and Deniz Tuncalp. "Case study 8: iGaranti: Expanding the frontiers of mobile banking
innovation." Services marketing cases in emerging markets. Springer, Cham, 2017. 89-106.

INNOVATION IN SMARTPHONE INDUSTRY
smartphones and had only a small monochrome LCD screen and an hour battery life. It only
sold about 50k units in six months.
It was not until 2000 that the smartphones were connected to 3G network that allowed
the devices to access internet wirelessly. It upped the ante for the smartphones to make
videoconferencing and sending e-mail attachments. After “Simon Personal communicator”
came the blackberry with calendar, music, advanced security y options, internet access and a
complete keyboard4. Initially, it targeted the business professionals and kept on releasing
advanced devices and it gradually become the market leader under the smartphone segments
until iPhone acquired the stem. However, in 2017, Blackberry seems to lose sight to its target
customers and left out the market with 0% share in the market5. It was when Steve Jobs
entered into the race of smartphones. Apple already started changing the way people make
use of the portable technology with its launch of iPod and its latest device in the year 2007.
IiPhone was considered to be among the most advanced smartphones for the consumers that
the market had ever seen. It sold about 1.4 million of units in the very first year and at the
same time, the next year, i.e. in 2008, it exploded to 11.6 million. The device offered 4GB
level and 8G. It had wide LCD screen and the battery life was exceeded to 8 hours of talk
time and 250 hours on standby mode. It was a significant improvement over the earlier
smartphones and made the device more user friendly, especially for day to day use.
In this way, people reached the modern day where there are 21 new iPhones, hundreds
of hardware iterations of the Android smartphones, long range of applications, mobile
photographer and many more6. There is a huge difference in the hardware from the year 2007
to 2018 and everything is more advanced than ever before. There is a way more memory in
the modern smartphones than it used to be and the devices are far faster and way more
powerful at the same time. People in the modern smartphones can use several applications
together in the same time and the cameras are with HD. With the same, streaming of videos
and music are easier than ever before and people can also get involved in online gaming in
their smartphones. Furthermore, the battery in the modern smartphones lasts not for minutes
or hours, but for day after days. A significant innovation to count in this context is the
4 Shen, Libi, and Anchi Su. "Intervention of Smartphone Addiction." Multifaceted Approach to Digital
Addiction and Its Treatment. IGI Global, 2019. 207-228.
5 Strik, B.C., 2016. A review of optimal systems for organic production of blueberry and blackberry for fresh
and processed markets in the northwestern United States. Scientia horticulturae, 208, pp.92-103.
6 Khan, Naseem, and Elif Kongar. "Innovation and Development of New Product for Customer Satisfaction,
Applying on Smart Phone's Security." University of Bridgeport (2014).

INNOVATION IN SMARTPHONE INDUSTRY
introduction of personal assistants like voice search and Siri, the built in “intelligent
assistance that allows the uses of smartphone users to speak natural language voice
commands for operating the smartphones and its applications7.
It is to note that a total of two operating systems have been evolved in the smartphone
sector. The Android by Google has been used by many hardware manufacturers for
competing with the Apple and its iOS and at present, Android is undoubtedly winning. As per
the statistics of Lindorfer et al., Android at present holds maximum number of worldwide
market share with about 42%, which is much larger than the Microsoft Windows on the
laptops and desktops8. While iPhones are actually worth of the cost for their set with
tremendous features, the Android devices are likely to spread more as they are much more
affordable for the buyers.
Hence, it can be stated that smartphones have simply changed the way people live
their lives today. About 2.5 billion of 5 billion cell phone users around the world today own a
smartphone and this number is predicted to increase in the coming years. IBM’s Simon have
showed the people a glimpse of what mobile device can be. This potential of their was
realised by Apple in the year 2007 and it released iPhone. Now, in the year 2018, they have
been successful at becoming a staple of the everyday lives of modern users. Right from the
replacements for the music players and digital cameras to the personal assistants like Google
Siri and voice search, people have ceased the usage of smartphones for communicating with
each other.
References:
7 Hoy, Matthew B. "Alexa, Siri, Cortana, and more: an introduction to voice assistants." Medical reference
services quarterly 37.1 (2018): 81-88.
8 Lindorfer, Martina, et al. "Andrubis--1,000,000 apps later: A view on current Android malware
behaviors." 2014 third international workshop on building analysis datasets and gathering experience returns
for security (BADGERS). IEEE, 2014.

INNOVATION IN SMARTPHONE INDUSTRY
Cecere, Grazia, Nicoletta Corrocher, and Riccardo David Battaglia. "Innovation and
competition in the smartphone industry: Is there a dominant design?." Telecommunications
Policy 39.3-4 (2015): 162-175.
Farley, Helen, et al. "How do students use their mobile devices to support learning? A case
study from an Australian regional university." Journal of Interactive Media in
Education 2015.1 (2015).
Hoy, Matthew B. "Alexa, Siri, Cortana, and more: an introduction to voice
assistants." Medical reference services quarterly 37.1 (2018): 81-88.
Khan, Naseem, and Elif Kongar. "Innovation and Development of New Product for Customer
Satisfaction, Applying on Smart Phone's Security." University of Bridgeport (2014).
Lindorfer, Martina, et al. "Andrubis--1,000,000 apps later: A view on current Android
malware behaviors." 2014 third international workshop on building analysis datasets and
gathering experience returns for security (BADGERS). IEEE, 2014.
Ozturkcan, Selcen, and Deniz Tuncalp. "Case study 8: iGaranti: Expanding the frontiers of
mobile banking innovation." Services marketing cases in emerging markets. Springer, Cham,
2017. 89-106.
Shen, Libi, and Anchi Su. "Intervention of Smartphone Addiction." Multifaceted Approach to
Digital Addiction and Its Treatment. IGI Global, 2019. 207-228.
Strik, B.C., 2016. A review of optimal systems for organic production of blueberry and
blackberry for fresh and processed markets in the northwestern United States. Scientia
horticulturae, 208, pp.92-103.