SMARTPHONE

A smartphone is a mobile phone offering advanced capabilities beyond a typical mobile phone, often with personal computer like functionality. There is no industry standard definition of a smartphone . For some, a smartphone is a phone which runs complete operating system software providing a standardized interface and platform for application developers . For others, a smartphone is simply a phone with advanced features

Definition

There is no agreement in the industry about what a smartphone actually is, and definitions have changed over time . According to David Wood, EVP at Symbian, "Smart phones differ from ordinary mobile phones in two fundamental ways: how they are built and what they can do" . Other definitions put different stresses on these two factors .

Most devices considered smartphones today use an identifiable operating system, often with the ability to add applications (e.g. for enhanced data processing, connectivity or entertainment) - in contrast to regular phones which only support sandboxed applications . These smartphone applications may be developed by the manufacturer of the device, by the network operator or by any other third-party software developer.

In terms of features, most smartphones support full featured email capabilities with the functionality of a complete personal organizer. Other functionality might include an additional interface such as a miniature QWERTY keyboard, a touch screen or a D-pad, a built-in camera, contact management, an accelerometer, built-in navigation hardware and software, the ability to read business documents in a variety of formats such as PDF and Microsoft Office, media software for playing music, browsing photos and viewing video clips, internet browsers or even just secure access to company mail, such as is provided by a BlackBerry.


History

The first smartphone was called Simon designed by IBM in 1992 and shown as a concept product that year at COMDEX, the computer industry trade show held in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was released to the public in 1993 and sold by BellSouth. Besides being a mobile phone, it also contained a calendar, address book, world clock, calculator, note pad, e-mail, send and receive FAX, and games. It had no physical buttons to dial with. Instead customers used a touch-screen to select phone numbers with a finger or create facsimiles and memos with an optional stylus. Text was entered with a unique on-screen "predictive" keyboard. By today's standards, the Simon would be a fairly low-end smartphone.

The Nokia 9000, released in 1996, was marketed as a Communicator, but was arguably the first in a line of smartphones. The Ericsson R380 was sold as a 'smartphone' but could not run native 3rd party applications. Although the Nokia 9210 was arguably the first true smartphone with an open operating system, Nokia continued to refer to it as a Communicator.

Although the Nokia 7650, announced in 2001, was referred to as a 'smart phone' in the media, and is now called a 'smartphone' on the Nokia support site, the press release referred to it as an 'imaging phone'. The term gained further credence in 2002 when Microsoft announced its mobile phone OS would thenceforth be known as "Microsoft Windows Powered Smartphone 2002".

Out of 1 billion camera phones to be shipped in 2008, smartphones, the higher end of the market with full email support, will represent about 10% of the market or about 100 million units.


Operating Systems

The most common operating systems (OS) used in smartphones are:

Symbian OS from Symbian Ltd. (72.4% Market Share)
Symbian has the largest share in most markets worldwide, but lags other companies in the relatively small but highly visible North American market. This matches the success of its largest shareholder and customer, Nokia, in all markets except Japan. Nokia itself enjoys 44.5% of the smartphone market. In Japan Symbian is strong due to a relationship with NTT DoCoMo, with only one of the 44 Symbian handsets released in Japan coming from Nokia. It is used by all the major handset manufacturers, including Motorola, Samsung, LG, and BenQ. It has received some adverse press attention due to virus threats (actually trojan horses).

Linux operating system (13.3% Market Share)
Linux is strongest in China where it is used by Motorola, and in Japan, used by DoCoMo. Rather than being a platform in its own right, Linux is used as a basis for a number of different platforms developed by several vendors, including Motorola and TrollTech, which are mostly incompatible. PalmSource (now Access) is moving towards an interface running on Linux. Another platform based on Linux is being developed by Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, Samsung, and Vodafone.

Windows Mobile from Microsoft (6.1% Market Share)
Windows CE operating system along with Windows Mobile middleware are widely spread in Asia. The two improved variants of this operating system, Windows Mobile 6 Professional (for touch screen devices) and Windows Mobile 6 Standard were unveiled February 2007 and in the first half of 2008 respectively.

RIM BlackBerry operating system (5.3% Market Share)
This OS is focused on easy operation and was originally designed for business. Recently it has seen a surge in third party applications and has been improved to offer full multimedia support.

Palm OS developed by PalmSource (now a subsidiary of ACCESS). (1.6% Market Share)
PalmSource traditionally used its own platform developed by Palm Inc. Access Linux Platform (ALP) is an improvement that was planned to be launched in the first half of 2007. It will use technical specifications from the Linux Phone Standards Forum. The Access Linux Platform will include an emulation layer to support applications developed for Palm-based devices.

OS X from Apple, Inc. (1.3% Market Share)
The iPhone uses an operating system derived from Mac OS X. Note that Apple and AT&T do not currently allow third party programs to be installed onto iPhones. Currently, developers can only write applications for the iPhone by creating a web service that can be accessed via the included web browser. However, some have been able to install applications onto the iPhone via unofficial methods. Apple have announced that an SDK for creating native third party applications will be released in February 2008.

Market Share data from Canalys report "Worldwide smart mobile device market, Canalys Q2 2007"

Dual-OS handsets have also been announced, such as the FIC Neo1973 which may run OpenMoko or Windows Mobile.