This is the beginning of the end folks. Smartphones have been around for sometime but it seems like the iPhone lead the way into the main stream audience and now the smartphone industry has exploded. Back in 2007 Apple introduced the iPhone which captured the attention of the general public for the first time. So why is 2009 the year of the smartphone? Lets take a look at what is different today compared to years prior.
In 2007 we went into the holiday season with an iPhone for $299.99 and $399.99. If you recall that year the iPhone had neither a 3G signal nor apps. The Razr was still king of sales in the United States but the iPhone was received well. Along with AT&T’s pretty expensive data plans the smartphone universe was still just a figment of the mass markets imagination.
2008 comes along. In 2008 we saw the introduction of phones like the Instinct and the LG Dare but none of these phones had the impact nor the usability the iPhone brought to the table. All of 2008 basically belonged to Apple. Then in July Apple introduced the iPhone with a 3G radio for $199.99. This is where a spark was struck and it was time for smartphone makers to get serious if they were to compete with Apple. In October the first real competitor was born. Android, Google announced the G1 and in October the phone launched with quite a bit of enthusiasm. The iPhone was still locked to AT&T, no users lusting for a smartphone wanted the LG Dare or the Samsung Instinct, so the somewhat feature lacking G1 was the next best thing. It’s launch was a bit stunted by the United States smallest main stream carrier but the G1 took and Android was something that seemed promising. Still going through the holiday season of 2008 we had the iPhone 3G for $199.99 and the first Android phone for $179.99. Just when it seemed like Apple had completely removed everyone else from the game Palm had a little surprise hidden up their sleeve.
2009, the year of the smartphone. Now things are starting to get serious. Palm at CES 2009 announced their first iPhone competitor, the Palm Pre, and it held a lot of promise. So with no official release date from Palm, Google stepped up it’s game. In early 2009 the price of the G1 dropped and the MyTouch 3G was launched along with the release of Android 1.5. Though still slightly crippled by T-Mobile, the Android devices held their own. In mid may Palm announced the Pre release date and the phone had a heavy emphasis on the open source community and its seemless multitasking. The launch went as well as Palm could have expected, however the Pre was launched on a carrier that was bleeding subscribers for some time. The Pre brings promise and is expected to launch on Verizon in early 2010. There were some Blackberry launches later in the year which include the Bold 2 and the Blackberry Storm 2, but neither phone really has users excited because the OS has little to no change. Then HTC put out their first fully customized version of Android showing just what is possible.
HTC changed the game for Android showing off what Android OS had potential to become. They added their Sense UI which allows for more robust widgets, more home screens, some UI changes throughout, and multitouch. The Hero launched on Sprint here in the United States. It was a quiet launch compared to the iPhone, the G1, and the Pre, but it was a notable launch. There were some initial bugs when it came to sluggishness in the UI but a carrier firmware release quickly fixed these issues. The Hero to date was the most promising Android device in town. Outside of the Hero, Android was still on the rise.
Palm had their come back and now it was Motorola’s turn. Motorola then collapsing because the Razr just wasn’t doing it for people anymore and they hadn’t launched a phone that people were excited about in a long time. The rumors were flying that Motorola had something Android under their hat. Finally they announced the Motorola Cliq which showed some promise but also a bit of let down when the specifications seemed to be the same specs of the G1, the MyTouch, and the HTC Hero which is the ARM 11 clocked at 588 Mhz. At this point we had the Pre and the iPhone 3GS with the next Generation ARM Cortex A8 processors with the powerVR Chipsets, so the same old Android processor was beginning to look a little ancient. The Cliq also was going to be launched on T-Mobile which is starting to seem a bit Android crowded at the moment but either way it doesn’t hurt Google to have more Android on the market. Then Motorola blows up the blogosphere with their new Verizon device called the ‘Motorola Droid’ powered by Google’s brand new Android 2.0. This was the first mainstream smartphone on Verizon that people were really excited about. The first Blackberry Storm launch was big but slowly faded as people grew annoyed with the Surepress technology and bugginess of the phone.
There were few small launches here and there which includes the Samsung Behold 2, which has Android and samsungs Cube UI known as Touchwiz, The Droid Eris which is Verizon’s version of the HTC Hero, and the Samsung Moment on Sprint. Early in October Windows Mobile launched 6 devices on multiple carriers with their new iteration of Windows Mobile now dubbed, ‘Windows Phone’, which has Windows Mobile OS version 6.5. Not enough changes in this OS to get people excited. The HD2 looks promising but won’t be in the U.S. until sometime in early 2010. That brings us to now.
This holiday season things are different. Smartphones still have a small market share but the offerings are so good and so affordable it is hard to imagine peoeple who will actually be signing a new 2 year agreement for a feature phone. Let’s take a look at some of the offerings. In 2007 we had the iPhone for $299.99. In 2008 we had the iPhone 3G and the G1 at $199.99 and $179.99. These phones were only on AT&T and T-Mobile. In 2009 we have smartphones on every large carrier in the U.S. Sprint is offering the HTC Hero for $99.99, Samsung Moment for $199.99, Palm Pixi for $99.99, Palm Pre for $149.99, Touch Pro 2 for $349.99, and a range of Blackberries from $49.99 to $199.99. On T-Mobile you have the G1 for $129.99, the MyTouch for $149.99, the Motorola Cliq for $199.99, and the Samsung Behold 2 for $229.99. T-Mobile also has a handful of blackberry handsets ranging from $99.99 to $199.99. On AT&T you have the iPhone 3G for $99.99, 3GS for $199.99, Windows Phone for $199.99, and the many variations of the Blackberry ranging the same prices as Sprint and T-Mobile. On Verizon you have the Blackberry Storm 2 for $199.99, the Droid Eris for $99.99, the Motorola Droid for $199.99, another variation of the Windows Phone for $199.99, and the LG Chocolate Touch for $149.99.
The options available today are tremendous and the prices are constantly dropping. Sprint and T-Mobile have set some new low prices on data plans making it even more affordable month to month to own a smartphone. So that begs the question. What is stopping you from purchasing a smartphone this year? Will smartphones outsell feature phones this holiday season? Feature phones are still selling well because with a feature phone you don’t need to pay for a data plan and so many of them are free, however during the holidays phones are gifts. Is there really anyone hoping to get a free feature phone for Christmas this year? We are starting to think this may be the first holiday season in history where phones called ‘Smart’ will out sell your old feature phones.
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