There were ‘Smartphones’ before the iPhone . The Apple product, now embodied in the iPhone 4S, the top selling Smartphone category of the moment is sold by every one of the main operators in Australia, Optus, Telstra, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile. They have to. It’s such a great product, their sales would almost literally fall apart without it. The iPhone set and maintained a new bar for what phones did and how they did it.
Now, half a decade on on ( the first iPhone was released in the USA on June 29th 2007 ) it’s time to take a look at how the iPhone has changed our lives and what the future might hold for Smartphone devices.
In a considered debate in the Whatphone offices ( or, more accurately, in the pub over the road ), each Whatphone journalist offered their own unique perspective on how the iPhone improved their lives while I tapped away on the keyboard of my ( traitorous ) HTC One X. Here’s what we came up with.
- The word goodbye doesn’t mean anything anymore. There are just people you want to stay in touch with and people you don’t. The iPhone extended existing Smartphone ‘always on, always connected’ capabilities in to a more user friendly experience and in to the hands of millions. Now, pretty much wherever you are in the world, you can be in constant contact, in any number of ways, using any number of social media tools if you want to. The iPhone connects us to friends and family first and foremost.
- Work is an activity, not a location. We all have constant access to emails, we teleconference from coffee houses and cars in to meetings in offices. The iPhone browser offers us access to reports and live analytics from any aspect of our business – all in a touch friendly interface while we’re away from the office. More than anything, mobilising the office offers flexibility to the Whatphone staff. The trade off of course, is that work invades your ‘out of office hours’ time and makes you constantly contactable.
- The pub quiz is gone. Maybe it was our locale at the time of the discussion but the constant availability of internet access and Google to answer our every question was one of the key benefits that the iPhone offered. It’s hard to imagine having an unanswered question in your mind at any time of the day or night .
- There’s no such thing as wasted time and you’re never without a friend. Remember when you used to twiddle your thumbs ? Remember when you felt awkward when you arrived first in a bar or stood in a lift full of people you don’t know staring at you in the mirrors ? No more. Crack out the Angry Birds. Check your text messages ( you know there’s nothing new there. ) See what’s next in your diary. You’ve never been bored since you got your iPhone.
So, it has rocked our worlds. It has changed our lives, notably, for the better. But now, it’s no longer just the iPhone which facilitates all these things. Devices like the beautiful Samsung Galaxy SIII, the HTC range including the Incredible S, all offer similar features. We were getting on to our fourth scooner so it was time to dream. What is the future for the Smartphone when competition between Apple, Samsung, HTC and everyone else is driving the category to evolve so quickly ?
All the evidence points to an even brighter future for Smartphones than the past. The incredible technologies already visible in and around Smartphones is going to drive them to the next level – and fast.
- Increased personalisation to the point that mobile devices know your preferences and automatically anticipate your needs and potentially judge your movements to determine your needs.
- Near Field Communications to make buying things easier and transacting information between devices ( giving your pal some pictures, looking up a map to find the cornflakes in Coles by tapping the end of an aisle. )
- Miniturisation : Smaller and smaller processors, better batteries and even flexible screens are all forecast.
Smartphones are revolutionising almost everything we do – at an accelerating pace.
Still, you don’t need to keep up, just come along to Whatphone and we’ll show you the best device which matches your needs !