Smartphone

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A smartphone is any electronic handheld device that integrates the functionality of a mobile phone, personal digital assistant (PDA) or other information appliance. This is often achieved by adding telephone functions to an existing PDA or putting "smart" capabilities, such as PDA functions, into a mobile phone. A key feature of a smartphone is that additional applications can be installed on the device. The applications can be developed by the manufacturer of the handheld device, by the operator or by any other third-party software developer. Image:SE P910i.jpg

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Definition and history

It is increasingly difficult to define exactly what qualifies as a "smartphone". Nearly all new mobile phones have some rudimentary PDA functionality such as phonebooks, calendars, and task lists. Furthermore, BREW and Java ME devices allow for the installation of additional applications but are still not considered smartphones. There are many BREW devices with PDA functionality, the ability to run third-party applications in native code and sporting displays as large as 240x320 pixels; yet they are not considered "smartphones". The elusive definition seems loosely tied to the particular operating systems listed below.

Fundamentally, these seem to be the common traits: Smartphones are voice-centric devices (voice is the primary function, data is secondary) that offer PDA-like capabilities, whereas PDAs or Personal Communicators (such as most BlackBerries) may offer voice capabilities, but they are data-centric. Smartphones are generally capable of one-handed operation, while PDAs generally require use of both hands.

Smartphone features tend to include Internet access, e-mail access, scheduling software, built-in camera, contact management, GPS navigation software and occasionally the ability to read business documents in a variety of formats such as PDF and Microsoft Office. In the CTIA conference held in Atlanta, Georgia in March 2004, incorporation of television into the smartphone was among the topics discussed.

The first smartphone was called Simon designed by IBM in 1992 and shown as a concept product that year at COMDEX, the communications industry trade show held in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was released to the public in 1993 and sold by BellSouth. Besides a mobile phone, it also contained a calendar, address book, world clock, calculator, note pad, e-mail, and games. Customers could also use a stylus to write directly on its screen to create facsimiles and memos.

As of 2004 smartphones were an increasingly large part of the mobile telephone market. According to the analysts, Canalys, smartphone shipments increased more than 100 percent from the second quarter of 2004 to the second quarter of 2005 with more than twelve million devices shipped in the latter period [1]. It is expected that in a few years most phones sold (except for disposable phones) will be considered "smart".

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Operating systems

The most common operating systems (OS) used by smartphones are Symbian, Palm OS (developed by PalmSource), Windows Mobile (formerly known as Windows CE, and developed by Microsoft), BREW (technically a platform developed by Qualcomm), and Linux.

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2005 OS Market Share

Recent information [2]] regarding smartphone market share from IDC show that Symbian was continuing to dominate the smartphone market, shipping 24 million phone centric Series 60 phones, and approximately 3 million more PDA centric phones. This constituted 48.5 and 6 percent of the smartphone market respectively, for a total market share for Symbian of 54.5 percent. This was down slightly from the 56 percent market share in 2004, but it constituted a 120 percent growth in unit shipments year on year.

The next largest smartphone OS in 2005 were Linux based handhelds. 11.6 million of such devices were shipped in 2005, forming 23.5 percent of the market, and a 360 percent year on year growth in unit shipments from 2004.

Following this was the Microsoft Windows Mobile phone platform (available in two versions: the phone-centric Windows Mobile for Smartphone OS, which shipped 4.5 million devices in 2005 (9 percent market share) and the more PDA-centric Windows Mobile Phone Edition, which shipped 2 million devices for a 4 percent market share). This was a 100 percent growth in unit shipments from 2004.

Last was the PalmOS operating system. This shipped 1.75 million devices in 2005 for a 3.5 percent market share. This was a 30 percent increase in unit shipments from 2004, and a 3.5 percent drop in market share from 2004.

There is a further 2.75 million devices which ship with various other OS's. They together formed 5.5 percent of the market, down from 14 percent of the market in 2004, indicating a consolidation behind the three fastest growing mobile OS's, Symbian, Linux and Windows Mobile.

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List of smartphones

List of smartphones

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See also

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External links

de:Smartphone fr:Smartphone ko:스마트폰 it:Smartphone nl:Smartphone ja:スマートフォン pl:Smartphone pt:Smartphone ru:Смартфон fi:Älypuhelin sv:Smartphone zh:智能手机

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