The last few years in the smartphone business has been a remarkable time, with some huge shifts in the market.  Think back to 2003, an eternity in the mobile market, and realize that the whole concept of a smartphone did not exist.  There simply wasn’t such a thing.  In fact, what is even more remarkable to me is that the company who launched the whole market segment we now know as smartphones was Palm.  That’s right. Believe it or not, Palm (and Handspring) invented what we all know as smartphones today, at least in a commercial sense.  Prior to the launch of the line of Treo products, there was nothing out there that resembled what we now know as a smartphone.

Fast forward a little to 2007.  At the end of June 2007, the smartphone market was rocked again with the introduction of the Apple iPhone. Apple, who had not previously been in the phone market, came out with a groundbreaking product. Sure, it was a smartphone, but it was one unlike anything the market had seen before. No keyboard, an amazing user interface, iTunes right on your phone, etc.  And just a year later in the summer of 2008 came the App Store. Both the device and the concept of the App Store were game changers in the market.

Now jump forward to the end of 2008, and we have the introduction of the first Android phone, built by HTC for T-Mobile, and running Google’s open source operating system, Android.  Uptake was slow, but by the Fall of 2009 several more Android phones hit the market, and the Android Marketplace rapidly grew to 20,000 titles.  As of last week all the major wireless carriers in the US have an Android offering. In fact, with the exception of AT&T, they all have multiple Android phones.  And if you haven’t used one of these devices, I can tell you that they are pretty slick.  The interface is on par with what you get from Apple. I am carrying one right now. It’s the HTC Hero from Sprint, and it’s a nice device.

So what’s the point of this little history lesson?  Well, I actually have several lessons, but let’s stick to 3 or 4 in no particular order:

1. This market moves very quickly. For those of you who lived through the introduction of the Personal Computer in the early 80′s, you can probably still remember how quickly new products were introduced. About every 18 months, a groundbreaking new computer came up with a new processor and larger memory. That same cycle in in the smartphone world is on the order of months.
2. Innovate or die. Palm basically invented the smartphone market. Now that same company is struggling for survival, and there is a genuine question as to whether what was once a $1.5 billion company will continue to exist.  Many people point to the fact that they never really changed their phones after that initial launch.  The Treo line of phones ran for about 6 years with no substantial changes, and now even the launch of the Pre and WebOS may not be enough to save them.
3. Something different this way comes. I wonder quite a bit about what the next great turn of the crank will be. We’re due.  To a certain extent, the iPhone is where the Treo was a few years ago. It’s been out in the market for about 3 years, with no real substantial changes. I know, I know, you Apple fans will talk about the faster network, more memory, GPS, etc. To which I reply, “Yawn”. I am not predicting Apple is going down in flames, but this is exactly what Palm did after the launch of the Treo…small, incremental improvements. That works for a while, but not for long in a market that craves the newest gadget. In fact, I would argue the Android phones have caught the iPhone in terms of the user experience.
4. What’s in it for business? Here we are almost a decade later, and businesses are still playing second fiddle to consumers in the smartphone market. Even RIM (the maker of BlackBerry), can’t resist the lure of the numbers represented by the consumer market. They seem to be having their own identity crisis.  Businesses, especially small businesses, have so much to gain from smartphone technology, and yet the market is only paying lip service to addressing their needs.

I am hopeful the whole smartphone market will pay attention to what has happened in its brief history. There is much to be learned. I expect they will learn, and I am eager to see what new devices, and what new business application arise in the next few years.