Smart Phones Development - Essay Example

Smart phones 14/11 Smart phones The intelligence of human mind has a persisting, illustrious and longhistory. People with superior intelligence have always been known as smart since the prehistoric Greek era (Berkman, 2012). As the human civilization entered the era of technology and science, today human intelligence is contemplate in more detail to integer in the fields of technology. From this human mind perception did the smart phones came into being. Smart phones were first introduced in 1990s when they began to shape the way people can connect to other people of the world. The prime top manufacturers of smart phones sold around half a billion smart phones to the world in 2011 only. Smart phones have miraculously paved their way into the market in a very short time. The enhancements in technical specifications such as battery life screen size, storage ability, and connectivity of broadband increases the sustainability of smart phones (Berkman, 2012). Cell phones history is both interesting and mysterious. The beginning of cell phones, just as the computers, was with humungous cell phones which first diminished in size from small to smaller to smallest as the years passed by. The pioneer of screen resolution focused was iPhone as it marked the beginning of growth of size of cell phones again. Mobile revolution started in 1973 when Martin Cooper first invented the cell phone. At that time, this cell phone was a colossal machine which was capable of making and receiving calls. The History of smart phones is a lengthy one. It al first began in 1946 when AT&T fist established the first ever mobile phone network. June 17. 1946 was the first time a truck driver made the first ever cell phone call (Berkman, 2012). With improvements in technology and mass media in the entire world, mobile phones were also positively affected by these activities. They also went through a process of innovation and development where their electronic functions abilities enhanced, better functionality of antennas, and other features allowed them to travel forward to this new dimension of the smart phone world (Zheng, 2006). Smart phone concept was then institutionalized in 1974 when Theodore George Paraskevakos patented the fundamental concept of smart phone. The paperwork was filed in U.S Patent office in 1972 for the mechanism for making and transferring digital information. Subsequently, IBM followed the suet and combined the PDA making the Simon personal Communicator and cell phone in 1994 with combination of text messaging, emailing, and faxing. Additionally making calls was added to this list. This device was sold for $1099 but again only for $899 if a two year contract was signed up by the retailer (Berkman, 2012). This decade that is called the 90s saw enhancement in the overall situation, as cell phone sizes became smaller but then were restored by Apple. This decade is also known for its digital compliance and mobile phones were now operated in 2nd generation technologies, which were known as Global System Mobile Setup. This included the Motor Razor by Motorola and Sony Ericsson R380. This new century changed the way people perceived cell phones and revitalized it completely. The days of huge, colossal, and heavy phones are now long gone (Hanson, 2011). These smart phones were bolstered by bright displays, touch screens, and sleek designs with enhanced and superior functionalities and diverse range of different functions which were only dreams of the past. They changed the dreams into reality. These fully functional operating systems are now integrated into modern cell phones. Microsoft Windows were the market leaders in the past but players like OHA, Android, Symbian, and Linux outshined Microsoft and ruled the market. They opened the doors for customer communications for enhancements in the working technology and design (Hanson, 2011). The BlackBerry Email Device saturated the market in 1999 when the smart phones buzzed about nothing but blackberry. For a price of as low as $399, the first Black berry device was quite reasonable in price than the Simon Personal Communicator. The impediment which BlackBerry had to go through was a two-way pager with email abilities. It was not until the year 2003 when BlackBerry smart phone outshined the market. 2000 began with Sony Ericsson breaking the market records and marketing its smart phone R380. This gave tremendous powers to Ericsson as Swedish Company named it R380 mobile phone a ‘smart phone’ meant catching every one’s attention as everyone wants to get smart, and be smart! This phone was a light weight device which was a flip phone that had the Symbian Operating system. Symbian was the leading smart phone operating system until Android over took it in 2011 (Berkman, 2012). Modern Times In 2007, iPhone by Apple brought novel designs to Smart phone industry with new heights and dimensions. Its iPhone was similar to iPod, except the fact that it was able to make calls, browse internet and take pictures. Apple, as people perceive, was not a pioneer in smart phones. Regardless of the claim made by Apple that it is the first smart phone company, it isn’t. iPhone came into the market after years of invention of first smart phone. But, by integrating the features of iPod with a phone, the smart phone by Apple was a great success. It was better able to communicate with people. As the updated versions of Apple came into the scenario, iPhone became more and more sophisticated. A media center for mobiles, iPhone began the most convoluted and amazing device of all time. The recent personification feature of iPhone 5 is also an eventful phenomenon (Berkman, 2012). The Android operating System blew up the entire market for smart phones when Google invented the first ever Android phone in the October of 2008.Android was a never like before success. Android sold more than Symbian and Apple sales combined. Even though iOS and Apple are competitors, there is not one Android Phone but many different companies who manufacturer varying models of Android based phones. In today’s world, there are more than 500 million devices of Android phones operating and benefiting users worldwide, which is about one in fourteen person on Earth (Berkman, 2012). Today, smart phones come with every technological feature one can imagine. You can access quality cameras, multimedia options add on features, navigations based on applications and functions, built in software, different utilities and tools, online stream capability, flash lights and many different functions, widgets etc that make them favorites for all. Precisely, this few inches smart phone can fit anywhere, in any bag or pocket and is a computer by itself. The investments and interest of large companies such as HTC, Nokia, Apple Inc, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and many others have made this rivalry fast and has benefited us the most (Arthur, 2012). This innovative process of building and integrating the daily life functions on smart phones first brought in by Apple and Steve Jobs was a revolution in mobile phone operations. Along with this initiative, Google and Android assisted each other in their endeavors to build upon each other’s strenghts. The policies revision by Blackberry, RIM, and Microsoft joint ventures are what the modern era witnessed (Arthur, 2012). The cell phones are growing in number more than any other form of technological device. The demand and utlitie of cell phones is growing in customers. Millions and billions of peoplr worldwide are using cell phones manufactured each year (Mlot, 2012). The journey of Apple, Black Berry, Motorola and Nokia have shaped the world that it is today by their technological advancements (Berkman, 2012). Now, let’s look at the timeline of smart phones as the world perceives it: January 2007 The chief executive of Apple reveals the iPhone to the public, which according to him is a magical, and revolutionary device which he believed was five years ahead of any other cell phone device. The chief executive of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer says that iPhone is the most luxurious phone in the world (Arthur, 2012). April 2007 Gartner, technology Research Company said that first three months of 2007 Microsoft Windows mobile had eighteen percent of smart phone market which consisted of 17 million handsets (Arthur, 2012). November 2007 Google announced the first Android mobile operating system for no cost. Anyone can change it and use it and by default, it has Google email, video and search installed in it. Andy Robins, head of Android Phones said that there will be thousands and thousands of Google phones available in the market which might be liked and disliked alike. Ballmer of Microsoft said that they’ll see what Google does as they will have a press release, and will have millions of customers; many hardware devices, superior software, and all of them are welcomed in the world of Microsoft (Arthur, 2012). October 2008 4.7 million of iPhones were sold by Apple as claimed by Apple. Now Apple captured thirteen percent of smart phone market. A Research in Motion claimed they had fifteen percent of market share at that time (Arthur, 2012). November 2008 G1 launches the first android phone which had a slide-out keyboard and restricted touch screen ability (Arthur, 2012). December 2008 Microsoft killed its Windows Mobile because they realized that it cannot be a rival to iPhone and Android. They developed a Windows Phone which was totally a novel operating system (Arthur, 2012). Autumn 2009 Now RIM possessed twenty percent of the market share from July to September as Gartner reported which was second to Symbian by Nokia which had forty four percent at that time (Arthur, 2012). January 2010 IPad, a tablet which was a revolution in itself, a whole computer system, was introduced by Apple. It was a 10 inches tablet (Arthur, 2012). February 2010 Different Android phones entered the market just like iPhone full touch screen (Arthur, 2012). March 2010 The chief executive of Google, Eric Schmidth was seen by Steve Jobs who threatened him as Android was seen to be copying iPhone. Taiwan’s HTC was sued by Apple because of its full touch screen Android phone (Arthur, 2012). April 2010 According to Gartner, Google Android phone expanded fewer than ten percent of market in first 3 months of the year 2010 (Arthur, 2012). Samsung 2010 Over taking Apple, Samsung launched its Samsung Note 1 or Galaxy Tab which was only seven inches tablet. Also, Nokia lost Olli Pekka Kallasvou as he resigned as the Chief Executive of Nokia. Stephen Elop joined Nokia as CEO after him. He came from Microsoft Office Division (Arthur, 2012). October 2010 The first phones which made use of Microsoft were Windows Phones. Now sales became low for Microsoft. Also, a Play book was introduced by Mike Lazaridis, RIM’s co-chief executice. It was only seven inches in size (Arthur, 2012). January 2011 IDC and Gartner announced that the sale of smart phones was more that Personal Computers all around the globe in previous three months of 2010. T was hundred millions against ninety three million (Arthur, 2012). February 2011 Stephen Elop announced that Nokia will make use of Microsoft Phone software for its future smart phones with Ballmer (Arthur, 2012). April 2011 The largest smart phone vendor’s position was taken by Apple in market with its growing revenues and numbers, selling more than 18.6 million iPhones, just a little bit more than Samsung which was 17.5 million in the first quarter of the year. Now, Android phones have became the best selling smart phones with a market share of 36.6 percent way ahead than the Symbian twenty seven percent. Apple sued Samsung in United States over the look of Samsung Galaxy Note tablet. There were many other cases of patents and trade dress by Apple over Samsung all around the world which are still going on all around the world (Arthur, 2012). June 2011 Nokia and Apple signed a patent that they will not be in dispute for a four year period. Apple gave €430m to Nokia per handset in a statement of loyalty for the future. Now Microsoft began to demand payments from makers of Android phone that their patent was infringed. Both HTC and Samsung agreed to make the following payments (Arthur, 2012). July 2011 Now Android phones take over about forty three percent of smart phone market in the second quarter of the year 2011 as Gartner reported (Arthur, 2012). Works cited: Arthur, C. (2012, January 12). The history of smartphones: timeline. Retrieved from Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jan/24/smartphones-timeline. Berkman, F. (2012, Oct 15). How The Cell phones got Smarter. Retrieved from Mashable.com: http://mashable.com/2012/10/15/cellphones-smartphones/ Hanson, S. (2011, September 02). A Brief History of Smartphone. Retrieved from Technorati: http://technorati.com/technology/article/a-brief-history-of-smartphone-infographic/ Mlot, S. (2012, Aug 28). Smartphones are fastest adopted consumer technology in history. Retrieved from ITPROPORTAL: http://www.itproportal.com/2012/08/28/smartphones-are-fastest-adopted-consumer-technology-in-history/ Zheng, P., & Ni, L. M. (2006). Smart Phone and Next Generation Mobile Computing. Morgan Kaufmann. Read More