IPhone, Economy Spur Better Phones, Apps.
The idea of shopping for, buying and downloading new apps isn't remotely unusual. Browsing online means seeing Web sites that look just like they do on a computer.
It's the ultimate dream of the mobile phone industry, but it wasn't created by the mobile phone industry -- the dream was actualized by outsiders. The result is that today, the traditional phone makers are playing catch-up and some are in such a struggle to do so that their future existence is uncertain.
What the traditional phone makers must view as a double whammy -- competition from the iPhone combined with the economic nose-dive -- end users are finding translates into better phones with more applications.
Apple's introduction of the App Store this year dramatically changed the way the people use their phones. While in the past users rarely downloaded applications to their phones, now the experience is easy enough to go mainstream. That's good news for users of essentially all smart phones, who can expect to see a steady stream of new applications in the future.
[PC World]
11:06:04 PM
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