The iPhone has been around for a while now. And while it has been a game changer to the mobile handset industry, it was also a game changer of almost EVERY other industry in town.
I came to this conclusion reading Om Malik’s post about the wireless bandwidth boom, which has (of course) been driven by the iPhone:
But the popularity of new 3G devices such as the iPhone and BlackBerry 3G has increased the use of data, putting the backend networks under strain. And from that perspective, today’s 3G networks are like glittering skyscrapers built on a foundation of matchsticks.
So what does a blogger do when such a realization hits him? He starts looking at other areas, where the iPhone has been a game changer. Here are a few that I’ve been able to collect.
i-Prefix
The “i” prefix is used by Apple for all of its products: the iPod, iTunes and iPhone are making their way to every possible corner. Ben Robinson from IntoMobile even reported on the iBore phenomena:
Warning: if you have an iPhone, you might be an iBore!
What happened next is that every other service today gets an “i” prefix attached to it to increase its coolness factor.
While not a game changer on its own, this phenomenon shows the strength of the Apple brand. I wonder when will they patent the letter “”" and start sewing others for using it.
Touch Technology
Ever since the first iPhone came out, people want to touch the screen. For some arcane reason, it has now become the most coveted input technology. And it’s not just touch – it’s MULTI-touch.
Windows 7 touch support
Be it mobile handset screens, eBooks, netbooks, laptops or even large digital whiteboards – touch as an input technology got into user input interface heaven thanks to the iPhone.
Application Stores
The Apple AppStore is the biggest cloud computing store for apps out there. There were a few before Apple, but none as successful, and none in a way that created a huge influx in the amount of them out there – and not only for mobile. Need a few examples?
- Ondeego – an app store for enterprise-focused mobile apps
- An app store for US agencies?
- A conference dedicated for mobile app stores
- An app store for twitter apps
- A VoIP App Store from BroadSoft
Application stores also raise a central question – will we consume our future services through the browser or by downloading applications?
Wireless Browsing
Wireless browsing, and even data usage over wireless networks, was marginal at best until the iPhone came out. There was no easy way to surf the internet from a mobile phone up until then, so the major use of the data network was for the Blackberry’s email service.
Since then, as Om Malik wrote in the quote above, new 3G devices such as the iPhone and BlackBerry 3G have increased the use of data, putting the backend networks under strain.
Another interesting quote on that matter is from Dimitris Mavrakis who points out in telecoms.com:
The runaway success of USB modems and the iPhone 3G have helped to make mobile broadband one of the most important strategic and commercial opportunities in the mobile industry.
While cellular providers now have to start beefing up their networks to play nicer with data, other vendors are following suite and coming out with handsets that are easier to work with on the internet.
Visualization on Consumer Electronics
When the iPhone came out, consumer electronics was… boring – Bland interfaces, usually done by engineers who select bad colors, 2D menus and windows.
From the moment the iPhone came out, it’s as if the world stood still: every consumer electronics vendor stopped everything they did feature-wise and went off to look for a 3D interface to match the iPhone. Even chip vendors came out with demos showing Open GL 3D graphics on their chips – “like the iPhone”.
It did a lot of good for the industry – it taught us that devices shouldn’t be boring.
Reflective Surfaces
The iPhone has been such a success, that the very basics of its design are being copied time and time again by others, and I am not talking about the iPhone-killer handsets which are spreading around.
And I don’t even need to go far – just look at what our own home-designer decided to do with the RSS and Email links for this blog:
Does the reflection of the words remind you of a certain product? We’re not alone in this – a lot of designers out there have been working on mimicking various design decisions made by Apple on the iPhone – from reflective surfaces to the way.
There’s More?
There are probably a few more areas that I just missed here. Feel free to add them.
Tags: 3D, App Store, Apple, Application store, bandwidth, Ben Robinson, Blackberry, Broadband, browser, Browsing, Cloud Computing, consumer electronics, content, data, design, developers, Dimitris Mavrakis, eBook, enterprise, handsets, internet, IntoMobile, iPhone, iTunes, mobile phone, multi touch, Om Malik, Open GL, Services, visualization, VoIP, Windows 7, wireless
Comments and trackbacks
1. Arnon Hershkovitz | October 29th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Very interesting.
2. Roman | October 30th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
I am sorry but what does this have to do with iPhone? I expected something much more intelligent from you then this factually incorrect comment.
i prefix is probably the only thing attributed to Apple but it started before the iPhone.
Microsoft worked on touch way before iPhone was even discussed in Apple. Just think about all the tablets or MS Surface. Apple worked on touch (Newton) many years before iPhone.
App stores have been around way before Apple. Think about Salesforce.com or App store for Symbian.
Data usage was driven by 3G devices (such as iPhone) but Blackberry still outsells iPhone and is responsible for more data usage. It is unclear how much usage is contributed by modems as well. In any case, At&T built a fast access layer to a bad data network.
I will not even talk about visualization — there are a million products like this every year. Amazingly customers don’t like this, since it typically makes tings hard to use.
Shiny surfaces. Well Walkman had them. And apparently you never saw a woman in your live otherwise you notice a lot of shiny things they typically have.
3. Tsahi Levent-Levi | October 30th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Roman,
I think you are missing the point – it’s not a matter of doing things first – it’s the fact that once iPhone did it, everybody else were running around like rats to do it as well.
And the beauty of it is the spillover effect from the smartphone market to almost everywhere else.
4. Amir Zmora | October 31st, 2009 at 1:44 pm
The mobile phone is no longer evaluated as a phone.
Last week I asked a friend who has the iPhone 3Gs “how is it”. He couldn’t stop complementing this product. For example he said, I’m in NY and I want to find a business nearby – restaurant, concert, whatever, I can search, click on the number to dial or get instructions how to get there. Then I asked, “how is it as a phone”. Well he said, not that great, you don’t hear that well, speaker is not so good and it is not that great to dial with the touch screen.
His first reaction wasn’t about the phone features, it was about the “other things” he can get from it.
So, a mobile phone is not longer just a phone. Because of the iPhone mobile phones are not evaluated by users as phones but by the services and applications they have and of course…by how cool they are.
Personally I’m using the BlackBerry Bold. Great for email but also not that great as a phone.
See here a video comparing between them http://www.editurl.com/4km
5. Ariffer | December 3rd, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Roman,
I think you missed the point, and also, you are the one that needs to go get your facts checked.
The point was how a product or a brand can change the industry its in and others. This has happen many times in the past with other companies, like the Dodge Caravan (minivan).
As for multi-touch, Microsoft has been playing catch up for a long time. The earlier pioneers were Mitsubishi (1980’s) and later others like Philips and what’s his name at MIT with the cool YouTube demos. The big deal here is that Apple successfully brought 5-finger multi-touch in a device that costs less then a $1000 USD. Just like the iPOD, Apple did not invent the MP3, but successfully integrated it into a seemless solution using iTunes for purchases the music, at a time when the Music Industry had no interest and even fought against mp3 files.
So, give the guy a break for noticing a pattern that has repeated itself many times. Remember the fruit colored iMacs in late 1990’s, and shortly after that I could buy a fruit colored George Foreman Grill, and so on and so on…
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