Innovation and Commercialisation: A Brief History of the Mobile and Smartphone

This assignment covers Learning Outcome 1&2 (LO1, LO2) of Unit 8: Innovation and Commercialisation. The history of technological change in smartphone industry is bound with initial radical breakthroughs (inventions) followed by incremental improvements (innovations). The assignment requires highlighting such inventions and innovations and determining the difference between (1) inventions of technological breakthroughs and (2) major innovations and (3) minor/incremental innovations. The different sources of innovations related to the product of Motorola MicroTAC 9800x (1989), IBM’s Simon (1994) are analyzed.

NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS
HIGHER NATIONALS
BTEC HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS (RQF)
Unit Code, Number and Title M/508/0494 RQF level 5 - Unit 8: Innovation and Commercialisation
Semester and Academic Year Semester 1, Academic year 2019 - 2020
Unit Assessor(s) Pham Quang Ngoc / Bui Thu Van
Assignment Number and
Title IC A1.1: Invention, Innovation, Diffusion (Assessment 1 of 2)
Issue Date Monday, October 21st, 2019
Submission Date 10.00 am on Tuesday, January 14th, 2020
IV Name Phan Thi Thuc Anh
IV Date Monday, October 21st, 2019
Student name
NEU Student ID Pearson ID
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This assignment (Assessment 1 of 2) covers Learning Outcome 1&2 (LO1, LO2).
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Unit Learning Outcomes:
LO1: Explain the context for innovation and determine the difference between invention and
innovation
LO2: Explain the different types of innovation
Assessment Brief and Guidance:
Scenario and activities:
A brief history of the mobile and smartphone
Smartphones have irrevocably changed our lives. Mobile internet access allows employees to work
from anywhere, while countless apps help people file their taxes, track their spending, or simply stay in
touch with old friends.
But how did our pocket computers get their start?
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Figure 1. A brief history of mobile phone 1973-2007
1970s
Discounting earlier technologies like the unreliable WWI wireless field telephone [1], the accepted
birthday for the cellular telephone is April 3, 1973 [2]. Standing near a 900 MHz base station in
midtown Manhattan, undoubtedly surrounded by bell bottom jeans and crocheted midi-dresses [3],
Motorola employee Martin Cooper dialed the number of Bell Labs in New Jersey.
We don’t know exactly what was said on this call. We do know that Cooper used the Motorola
DynaTAC 8000x [4], a product that wouldn’t go on sale to the public for another decade. But that call
was the beginning of a mobile revolution. By 1979, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) introduced
the first ever (analog) 1G phone service [5] in Tokyo.
1980s
Although NTT gave Japanese consumers the first access to mobile phone service, it was several years
before the technology moved into the mainstream worldwide. On October 13, 1983 [6], Ameritech
Mobile Communications became the first company to launch a 1G phone network in the US, starting
with Chicago. On March 13, 1984 [7], the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x of Cooper’s call finally went on
sale—for $3,995.
The 8000x wasn’t very mobile—it weighed almost two pounds and took ten hours to charge for thirty
minutes of talk time. By April 25, 1989 [8], the Motorola MicroTAC 9800x [9] showcased true
mobility with its (relatively) compact size and flip-up mouthpiece. Of course, they both still had
antennae, and could only be used to place calls.
The 1989 Motorola MicroTAC 9800x, with a flip-up mouthpiece and retractable antenna, weighed less
than one pound and was designed to fit in a shirt pocket. Courtesy Redrum0486.
Figure 2. The first mobile phone worthy of the name.
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1990s
Appropriately for a decade that saw the reunification of Germany and the official formation of the
European Union, the first GSM call was made in 1991. The GSM standard established a common
network across Europe and provided users with uninterrupted service even when they crossed borders.
The first GSM phone, the Nokia 1011, which went on sale November 9, 1992 [10], also introduced text-
messaging.
And here’s where we preview the smartphone. When IBM’s Simon [11] was released on August 16,
1994, it was a bit early to the game. You could send email (and faxes!), sketch on its touchscreen with
the included stylus, and consult the calendar, world time clock, and address book. But you couldn’t surf
the web—after all, NCSA’s Mosaic [12] browser had only appeared one year earlier and home
computers were just starting to adapt.
Figure 3. What was the First Smartphone: This video takes a look at some little known history. The
IBM Simon personal communicator really was well ahead of its time. [13]
While IBM’s Simon was a bold entry into the market, it wasn’t exactly the smoothest starting point for
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a mobile device. You could say it was ahead of its time, and most consumers didn't jump on board.
The Simon was advanced for it's time, but has nothing on the smartphones of today. It only had a small
monochrome LCD screen and a one-hour battery life.
One thing that was cool, it did let you make landline calls instead of being at the mercy of expensive
carrier rates. Unfortunately, at $1,100 retail MSRP, it only sold 50,000 units in 6 months.
Clearly, though, the Simon created a great launching pad for others to innovate.
Then, the first BlackBerry mobile device [14] was the BlackBerry 5810. It had most of what you think
of when you hear "Blackberry":
 Calendar
 Music
 A full keyboard
 Advanced security
 Internet access
But you had to make calls through a headset.
BlackBerry primarily targeted business professionals. They kept releasing more and more advanced
devices, and became the market leader in smartphones [15] until the iPhone gained steam.
They seemed to lose sight of their target customer, though, and bottomed out with 0% market share in
2017.
2000s
Figure 4. The day we lost our attention spans. When Steve Jobs introduced the
first iPhone at Macworld 2007, the world was more than ready [16]
If the smartphone was born in the nineties, then it came of age with the millennium. NTT DoCoMo
launched the first 3G network in Japan on October 1, 2001 [17], making videoconferencing and large
email attachments possible.
But the true smartphone revolution didn’t start until Macworld 2007, when Steve Jobs revealed the first
iPhone [18]. Previous phones relied on keypads and could only navigate a watered-down version of the
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internet. The iPhone’s large touchscreen could flip through websites just like a desktop computer, all
while looking sleeker than anything consumers had ever seen before.
The iPhone was one of the most advanced consumer smartphones the market had ever seen. Priced at
$499 for the 4gb unit and $599 for the 8gb model, users flocked to the device - and to the AT&T carrier
it was exclusive to.
Apple sold 1.4 million iPhones its first year on the market, and the device exploded to 11.6 million sold
in 2008.
Apple already had the iPod Video, but one large drawback was its small, 4:3 aspect ratio screen. The
iPhone came with a wide LCD screen that was perfect for video.
It’s extended battery life allowed for 8 hours of talk time and 250 hours on standby. This battery was
a huge improvement over IBM’s Simon! It also made the iPhone a much more consumer-friendly
device, particularly for daily use.
The hardware was impressive, but the software - in the form of 3rd party apps - expanded the iPhone’s
capabilities and created a revolution for the industry.
Millions of apps arrived on the iPhone, adding to the device’s feature set daily. Before long, the
smartphone market exploded, and in 2015, 84% of Americans said they couldn't go a day without their
phone [19].
Figure 5. Global Apple iPhone sales (2007-2008)
2018s and beyond
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So here we were in 2018, and worldwide use is expected to pass five billion by 2019. We use our
phones for so much more than calls: dating, job-hunting, reading books, and watching movies. Maybe
that’s why we’re seemingly unable to put them down [20] for even a moment.
Figure 6. % of U.S. adults who own the cellphone and smartphone
There’s a large difference in hardware from 2007 to 2018. In short, everything is more advanced.
 There's way more memory
 Devices are far faster and more powerful
 You can use multiple applications at the same time
 Cameras are HD
 Music and video streaming are easy, as well as online gaming
 The battery lasts for days instead of minutes or a couple hours
Two primary operating systems have evolved within the smartphone market. Google's Android has
been adopted by a number of hardware manufacturers to compete with Apple and their iOS.
For the moment, Android is winning.
According to StatCounter, Android holds the majority worldwide market share [21], with more than
42%. This is larger than even Microsoft Windows on desktop and laptop PCs.
Thanks to these advancements, most people have been able to replace their digital cameras and iPods
(mp3 players) with their phone. While iPhones are worth the cost for their feature set, Android devices
have likely spread more because they're more affordable.
On average, Android devices are almost 1/3rd the cost of an iPhone, according to ABI Research
findings. This is thanks to a diverse amount of hardware manufacturers using the Android OS for their
smartphones.
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Figure 7. OS Market share Worldwide from July 2017-July 2018
Source: https://www.textrequest.com/blog/history-evolution-smartphone/
The Future of Smartphones
The early smartphones like IBM’s Simon showed us a glimpse of what mobile devices could be. In
2007, their potential was fully realized by Apple and the iPhone. In 2018, they continue to become a
staple of our everyday lives.
From replacements for our digital cameras and music players, to personal assistants like Siri and voice
search, we’ve ceased using our smartphones merely to communicate with each other.
So what's next?
The 5G networks [22] predicted for 2020 promise even faster speeds and increased bandwidth that
experts think may enable life-changing technologies [23] like real-time telemedicine, virtual reality
training, and truly smart cities.
Related: How Much Online Traffic Comes from Mobile Devices? [24]
With that kind of connectivity, a smartphone might become your next (and only) work computer.
Scientists are even experimenting with building a supercomputer out of smartphones [25].
The smartphone’s journey may not be very long, but it’s definitely going places. Nobody knows what
the next Simon or iPhone will be, but we do know that whatever it is will be incredible.
-----End of the scenario-----
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You are required to do the following activities:
1: The history of technological change in smartphone industry is bound with initial radical
breakthroughs (inventions) followed by incremental improvements (innovations). Highlight such
inventions and innovations. Determine the difference between (1) inventions of technological
breakthroughs and (2) major innovations and (3) minor/incremental innovations.
2: Analyse the different sources of innovations related to the product of Motorola MicroTAC 9800x
(1989), IBM’s Simon (1994), BlackBerry 5810 (2002), and Apple iPhone (2007):
 Describe the different functional sources of the innovations related to the products made by
Motorola, IBM, BlackBerry and Apple, using theory of von Hippel (1988).
 Evaluate how these sources of innovation helps the firms to generate new-product innovations.
3: Using the models of demand pull and technological push to explain the interaction of technology
and the business performance of the firms in making Motorola MicroTAC 9800x (1989), IBM’s Simon
(1994), BlackBerry 5810 (2002), and Apple iPhone (2007). Did these innovative firms get the ideas
for innovations from the market or it were firms’ engineers who recognizes that a specific piece of
new technological knowledge resulted in the firms’ new products.
4: Analyse the case of IBM’s Simon (1994) - the first smartphone in the cell phone market:
 Explain how IMB’s organisational vision, leadership, culture shaped the company innovations
and commercialisations toward mainframe computer.
 Why IBM did not quickly move to the smartphone market?
5: Analyzes the competition between BlackBerry mobile device and iPhone product-line:
 Build the S-cure for the evolution of BlackBerry mobile devices and iPhones.
 How was the performance of BlackBerry mobile devices and iPhone improved over time?
 When BlackBerry mobile devices were, at first, challenged by iPhone, describe the rival
technology (of iPhone) and explain how was the rival technology introduced at time T1 in the
S-curve?
 How was the performance of the iPhone by the time T1 when it, at first, entered the market?
 Did BlackBerry still enjoy performance or cost advantage? Explain the 4Ps of innovation of
BlackBerry and apply the innovation funnel to understand how it shapes innovative ideas of
BlackBerry. Why was BlackBerry not able to stay as the leader in the market?
6: What matters for success of iPhone? What did Apple do to take the position of market leader and to
maintain their advantage? Explain the 4Ps of innovation of Apple. Evaluate the role of frugal
innovation in an organisational context of Apple.
Note: student could enrich evident and data for their analysis by searching on the internet, do
remember to cite the source of information.
Explanation of the command verbs:
- Describe: Give an account, including all the relevant characteristics, qualities and events.
- Evaluate: Work draws on varied information, themes or concepts to consider aspects, such as:
o Strengths or weaknesses
o Advantages or disadvantages
o Alternative actions
o Relevance or significance.
Students’ inquiries should lead to a supported judgement showing relationship to its context. This
will often be in a conclusion. Evidence will often be written but could be through presentation or
activity.
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- Explain: To give an account of the purposes or reasons.
- Analyse:
o Present the outcome of methodical and detailed examination either: Breaking down a theme, topic
or situation in order to interpret and study the interrelationships between the parts and/or of
information or data to interpret and study key trends and interrelationships.
o Analysis can be through activity, practice, written or verbal presentation.
- Critical analysis: Separate information into components and identify characteristics with depth to
the justification.
Sources:
1. https://sciencenode.org/feature/How%20did%20smartphones%20evolve.php
2. https://www.textrequest.com/blog/history-evolution-smartphone/
Figure 6. The smartphone journey isn’t over. The increased bandwidth of 5G networks heralds a
technological revolution, promising real-time telemedicine, on-demand virtual and augmented reality,
and sleekly integrated smart cities.
Notes:
1. https://www.royalsignalsmuseum.co.uk/ww1-ww2-communications/
2. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/04/the-first-mobile-phone-call-was-made-40-years-ago-
today/274611/
3. http://www.cemetarian.com/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=6420
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_DynaTAC
5. https://books.google.com/books?
id=GZOBAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT944&lpg=PT944&dq=Nippon+Telegraph+and+Telephone+1979+first+1g+servic
e&source=bl&ots=Fd_gZxCZvy&sig=VrOvwWeiEzVpAjEEnUE3lJZaGhU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj6tcv
ekqncAhWFx4MKHRplDMYQ6AEIjAEwDQ#v=onepage
6. https://www.historyandheadlines.com/october-13-1983-first-american-cell-phone-network-opens-chicago/
7. https://mashable.com/2014/03/13/first-cellphone-on-sale/#r5yuvu183sqf
8. http://malibuflash.com/technology/motorola-microtac-9800x
9. https://www.motorola.com/us/about/motorola-history-milestones
10. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/09/20_years_of_gsm_digital_phones/
11. http://time.com/3137005/first-smartphone-ibm-simon/
12. http://www.ncsa.illinois.edu/enabling/mosaic
13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD_mLPIV_GE
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14. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/blackberry/11347347/The-history-of-BlackBerry-in-pictures.html
15. https://www.macrumors.com/2017/02/15/blackberry-hits-zero-market-share/
16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=vN4U5FqrOdQ
17. https://www.zdnet.com/article/worlds-first-3g-phone-network-goes-live/
18. https://www.wired.com/story/guide-iphone/
19. https://www.textrequest.com/blog/americans-day-without-cell-phones/
See also: How Much Time Do People Spend on Their Mobile Phones in 2018?:
https://www.textrequest.com/blog/how-much-time-people-spend-mobile-phones-2017/
20. https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-app-that-will-help-you-put-down-your-phone-and-enjoy-your-life
21. http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share
22. https://www.techradar.com/news/what-is-5g-everything-you-need-to-know
23. https://sciencenode.org/feature/better-faster-stronger.php
24. https://www.textrequest.com/blog/online-traffic-mobile-devices/
25. https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/europe-wants-a-supercomputer-made-from-smartphones
Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria
Learning
Outcome Pass Achieved
(ticked) Merit
Achieve
d
(ticked)
Distinction Achieved
(ticked)
LO1 Explain the
context for
innovation and
determine the
difference
between invention
and innovation
P1 Explain
innovation and
determine its
importance to
organisations in
comparison with
invention.
M1 Analyse
different sources
of innovation, and
how
organisations can
foster and
develop an
environment and
culture of
innovation. LO1 and LO 2 D1
Critically analyse
how innovation is
developed,
embedded and
measured in an
organisational
context.
P2 Explain how
organisational
vision, leadership,
culture and
teamwork can shape
innovation and
commercialisation.
LO2 Explain the
different types of
innovation
P3 Explain the 4Ps
of innovation and
explain the use of
the innovation funnel
to examine and
shape innovative
ideas.
M2 Analyse and
apply the
innovation funnel
in an
organisational
context.
P4 Explain
developments in
frugal innovation
and provide
examples of how it
is used in an
organisational
context.
M3 Appraise the
role of frugal
innovation in an
organisational
context.
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