The Rise of the Superphone
John Sangiovanni
To describe the segmentation of the mobile phone marketplace, analysts and industry professionals use a common lexicon to group similar devices by their relative features and capabilities. The majority of mobile phones that have graced retail shelves in recent years fall into two distinct categories: featurephones and smartphones. Lately, however, a new category has begun to emerge, that of the superphone.
Featurephones are so named, counterintuitively, because at one point in recent memory they defined the higher end of the device strata, due to their support for basic WAP browsing, the inclusion of a basic web browser, and possibly a color display. They offer no branded operating system, no open software API, and no (or limited) PIM sync capabilities. Today, such phones define the low end of the market in developed regions.
The next segment, smartphones, are devices that provide a more substantial, general purpose computing platform: Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Palm and certain devices powered by Series 60. In recent years, these devices have penetrated deeply beyond the enterprise market for which they were designed. It is possible, albeit painful, to write third-party software for smartphones, and they boast robust over-the-air synchronization with mainstream email, calendar, and contact management systems.
Featurephones and smartphones have defined the strata of mobile phone offerings in the mainstream marketplace for the past five years. However, now it’s clear that we see a new category emerging, with an impact on the wireless business that is difficult to overstate. With vastly better performance, desktop-grade web browsing, and high-resolution displays, a new category is born. I call them “superphones,” and they are achieving tremendous traction with consumers and professionals alike.
So what makes a superphone a superphone?
Though many try, it is difficult to dispute that the product that created and continues to define the superphone category is the iPhone. The iPhone offers an elegant user interface powered by an impressive array of integrated hardware, all wrapped up in a masterwork of industrial design. And within months of the iPhone’s release, several manufacturers rushed to market with devices that industry blogs would soon call the “iClones” — devices that were seemingly similar to the iPhone in design (large, high-resolution touchscreen) and a few core functions (high-quality integrated web browsing), but lacking the deeper foundational technologies that made the iPhone a platform.
Nevertheless, some of these devices were forged through ambitious collaborations, such as the Instinct (from Samsung and Sprint) and the Dare (from LG and Verizon). Although they didn’t achieve nearly the buzz or sales of the iPhone, these devices suggest that maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks.
If a large display and a robust web browser do not a superphone make, then exactly what is it that defines this new category? The operative word is platform. The creative potential of this next generation of hardware is defined by the ecosystem that each respective Superphone vendor’s platform will enable. When features like touchscreens, browsers, location-sensing technologies and hardware acceleration are programmatically exposed through elegant developer tools, a device is two-thirds of the way to superphonedom. Lastly, add an end-to-end international storefront, and a new medium is born.
A superphone must have:
Hardware
- Display with at least 320 pixels on the short axis
- 3G connectivity or greater (plus additional radios as appropriate…Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.)
- Location-sensing technology (GPS, high-resolution signal-strength-based location, or equivalent)
- Hardware-accelerated graphics subsystem
Platform
- Integrated web browser that supports current desktop development standards
- Published native developer SDK that allows programmatic access to the specialized hardware/software features listed above.
Distribution
-
Integrated process for certification and searchable catalog distribution of 3rd-party applications. (Many will add that having a truly open distribution channel would be ideal, and I agree. However, through the publication of Zumobi’s iPhone app, we have found Apple’s AppStore certification process to be efficient and transparent.)
The next wave of true superphones promises to back up a device’s good looks with deeper platform technologies and more robust back-end services. Google’s Android platform will give way to a new breed of “gPhones” from Google’s partner manufacturers such as HTC. The much-anticipated BlackBerry Bold offers a gorgeous high-resolution display and also includes a physical keyboard -– essential for BlackBerry loyalists.
Microsoft’s response will likely be forged from the recently acquired consumer expertise of Danger (creators of the T-Mobile SideKick), together with their in-house Windows Mobile platform experience. Each is likely to provide a robust developer SDK, evolved from the toolchains that have served their platforms in years past.
The superphone promises to continue to challenge our notions of what a mobile device is and what it can do. This is neither the beginning nor the end of our mobile technology adventure, but nevertheless a notable chapter in our species’ paradoxical quest to be completely untethered, yet perpetually connected.
John SanGiovanni is the co-founder and VP of Product Design at Zumobi.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.
Are we ever gonna hear the end of the iphone crap?! Seriously! First of all, by your own definitions the 1st iphone was not a “superphone” because it lacked 3G, GPS, an SDK and 3rd party applications. Secondly, when compared feature-by-feature against many Windows Mobile phones (mainly HTC devices) it is most certainly still not a superphone.
Other than the interface (which a lot of people DON’T like because it can’t be customized like WM), give specific examples of what the iphone has that Windows Mobile devices don’t have. Even after 2 attempts at copying devices that have existed for years, I can still list numerous features that my HTC Tilt has that neither iphone has. To me that makes neither iphone very “super”.
A Superphone is one that doesn’t need crap like Zumobi running on it. Really!
I think the iPhone is a smartphone with the distribution part added and a UI that is done right. You can call it a superphone, as more phones like it are coming out to the market, but I don’t think it deserves it.
As to the previous comments here, feature-to-feature comparison won’t cut it. People like the iPhone a lot better simply because it provides beter USER EXPERIENCE. And this is the new name of the game.
I outlined no less than 10 essential factors that make the iPhone such a formidable platform to compete against in:
Who can beat iPhone 2.0?
http://counternotions.com/2008/03/10/iphone2-competitors/
Since two days we are testing HTC Touch HD pre-production model, and now I am willing to trade my iPhone 3G for it.
I don’t mean to call you out but this article looks strikingly similar to the article that coined AJAX. Reduce your picture size and your attempt might work.
If a superphone combined the features of a smartphone and a feature phone, the iPhone ain’t it. Only 2 megapixel camera? Pathetic.
Rather the Nokia N95, which has great feature phone and smartphone features would qualify. Also the Samsung Omnia or the new HTC Touch HD.
The iPhone’s feature set is weak indeed. It does not even offer video recording (another hallmark of a feature phone) or proper turn-by-turn GPS.
N95/N96 perhaps makes sense for those who place an emphasis on photography, unfortunately there are other things a phone has to do and that’s where N95 betrays weakness. Screen size, screen quality, form factor, qwerty, UI, feature implementation, browser and Internet, appstore,iPod.
But compared to Nokia and WM, Apple and Android are still young platforms and so early adopters need to be patient, if you can’t be patient and expect everything then you need to buy something from mature platform vendors and let early adopters deal with the issues.
But the mass arrival of phones that look like the iPhone with touch screens and similar form factors indicates Apple’s ability to identify gaps in the market and explains to some degree their success with the iPhone. They identified and gap and filled it.
S60 has been stagnant for what 5 years, apart from the introduction of DRM, and untill N95 8GB Nokia was selling devices with crippled ram inspite of ram being dirt cheap and delivering an awful UI experience, that doesn’t show a lot of respect for consumer. The value of 3G and wifi on 2.2-2.8 inch screens with keypads for internet use is also questionable. This kind of limited internet experience will put off all but the most determined and that’s the future of smart phones.
Do you really believe that the original iPhone has more in common with Treos, Blackberries & WinMo’s than it does with the iPhone 3G? Did we really need a new category?
dear sir you dont now how much need man like all the best from kosova