The U.S. Smartphone Revolution

A lot of new and interesting factoids appeared today regarding the battle between the smartphone operating systems. At this juncture, it appears as if the Google Android OS is beginning to move ahead of the competition while RIM has actually maintained pace with the Apple iPhone. Microsoft Phone 7 and Symbian are in the back of the pack. Way in the back. This is appropriate, since Nokia will be swapping Symbian for Windows Phone 7.

In older columns, I predicted that the scene will boil down to two players: probably Android and Apple. But I'm not surprised that the Blackberry hangs tough. Users love that phone.

Overlooked in the commotion, though, is the transformative nature of the entire market. The whole world is looking at these changes. Wherever you go, the hip, trendy phone users around the globe will most often be seen with one of these North American smartphones. And to be honest the hippest of the hip will have an iPhone.

I find this particularly amusing, because I recall a constant barrage of anti-American accusations during the late 1990s, whereby we were told that the mobile phone world has passed us by. When I was doing Silicon Spin, a cable show for TechTV, guests would often arrive having just visited Japan, carrying some dingbat phone, such as the Docomo, and singing its praises.

Whenever you read International tech media, you'd hear about all the great things going on with mobile technology everywhere in the world, except in the U.S.

You'd go to meetings and conferences and hear speakers lament about how the U.S. was so far behind in mobile phone technology. The common accusation was that we were pathetic laggards. Losers. This mocking and teasing continued right up until the announcement of the iPhone. Then everything changed.

The fact is we were never really that far behind, and most of the "great" phones around the world were gimmicky and often just plain dumb. The Docomo comes to mind. The first time I saw one its earmark seemed to be a lot of animated gifs for icons. All that was missing was the cat running back and forth at the bottom of the display.

Whatever the case, I can assure you that it was a little more than annoying to listen to what seemed like the entire universe deriding Americans about cell phones—a technology we invented. We were the redhead stepchild of the tech world because our phones were not doing much more than making phone calls. How lame is that? Thus, we were world class losers.

Gee, I guess that's changed, eh? If you aren't using an iPhone in London, then you are probably using an Android phone. That's unless you are a loser, laggard, or slow-poke.

This particular leapfrog is because of American ingenuity and was led by the folks at Apple. It's kind of been overlooked, however, in all the confusion and classic fighting for market share. Most people seem to have forgotten the history and don't even realize that they witnessed one of the great tech come-from-behind victories ever.

To be honest about it, it even surprised me. It was like a sporting event where one whole team was replaced with another team to "show them how it's done." The new guys then decimate the competition.

It's expected that within just a few years the entire market will consist of varieties of smartphones, whose designs and operation were all invented in the U.S. and Canada. And we won't have to gloat about it.

Docomo, hah! Well, maybe gloat a little.

Source: www.pcmag.com