The Battle of the Smartphones

Applications shall define the winner

The iPhone... the Palm Pre... the Storm. Users extol the virtues of each platform, but what are they truly lauding? The applications.

The greatest achievement with the iPhone is not how it works, but it’s plethora of apps. At first, Apple was against opening the iPhone to outside development. Quickly, they changed their minds. Immediately, thousands of developers created applications covering almost every conceivable niche. This was the first victory in the battle.

Riding on the success of iTunes, the App Store quickly became a mass-market deployment system for these apps. This was the second victory; one that changed how we access content for our devices and thus revolutionized how we embrace mobile technology.

Palm’s and RIM’s success depends upon how they address Apple’s App Storeadvantage. Look to see RIM’s App World and Palm’s App Catalog be the new frontline in the battle of the smartphones.

Carrier Specifics

Why are some phones limited to a network?

If you are an AT&T customer, especially if you have an iPhone, you may be frustrated by the frequency of dropped calls. This begats the question: why can I not use my phone with Verizon? The reason is the network.

There are two types of cellular networks: GSM and CDMA. GSM (Global Systems for Mobile communications), the world’s most popular cellular network technology, is used in cell towers and within mobile devices. In North America, GSM competes with CDMA (code division multiple access), another cellular technology that uses different hardware in the cell towers and chips within the mobile devices.

AT&T and T-Mobile (Rogers in Canada) use GSM technology. Verizon, Alltel and Sprint (Bell Mobility and Telus in Canada) use CDMA. Handhelds that have GSM chips only work on GSM networks, CDMA on CDMA networks. There are exceptions, known as “dual mode”devices. Nonetheless, for most of us, if we have a GSM device, like an iPhone, we are limited to the GSM carrier that provided the deivce.

In the future, with the roll-out of LTE (long term evolution) 4G cellular networks, expect to see GSM and CDMA discarded by carriers in favor of one unified technology.

News from the Industry

Recent stories relating to mobile technology.

Where the iPhone is driving Mac OS X

With the release of Mac OS X 10.6, “snow leopard,” the influence of the iPhone is obvious. Snow leopard supports Microsoft Exchange, location awareness, and other features.

Microsoft's plan to get back in the phone game

Windows Mobile 6.5 is Microsoft’s next update to it’s primary mobile operating system, one that focuses on performance rather than features. In the pipeline looms Windows Mobile 7, a radical departure from previous MS mobile platforms, one targeted for a more “iPhone-like” mobile experience.

Verizon Leads, AT&T Runs Last in Wired.com’s 3G Speed Test

Conducted in May, Wired's interactive 3G speed test attracted about 15,000 participants — 12,000 of whom reported valid, usable results. The study focused on 3G networks deployed in the United States by AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile.

Mobile Is A Bright Spot For M&A So Far This Year

In the larger M&A market, deals have been few and far between with the exception of the mobile space. Thus far, mobile M&A deals are up 46% over last year with the expectation that this will continue in 2010.