Apple is a company you either love or hate. There seems to be very little middle ground. The one thing we all owe Apple is a bit of thanks for how they have changed the cell phone market. Here is just a bit of how Apple has single handedly changed the face of cell phones the world over:
Touch screens are now commonplace
Touch screens have been around long before Apple ever decided they needed to put one on their cell phone. What really changed with Apple was how people used their cell phone touch screens.
Long gone are the days of having to keep spare styluses on you. Apple brought on finger navigation in a big way. Apple even brought on multi-touch gestures on their first cell phone try. This has led the way for a huge touch screen blowout the past few years. Many companies try to mimic what Apple has done with their cell phone, yet none really seem as solid and well responsive as the iPhone.
A unified shopping location
The biggest market for Apple is in the way they handle apps. Apple took their iTunes distribution system and moved it to the cell phone market. This paved the way for mass distribution of apps to the Apple cell phone of addiction everywhere.
Again, Apple was not the first one to implement an online market place. Apple was the first to make it easy, simple, and market it like crazy. RIM, Android, Palm, and even the Jailbreak community have all taken notice of what Apple has done with the cell phone app shopping experience.
Making cell phones more than just phones
Apple’s cell phone has taken strides in how consumers devour media. This is all thanks to the huge success that has come with the iPod of years past. Apple took this music device and turned it into a cell phone to challenge all cell phones.
The iPhone is more than just a way to listen to music. Now there are games, movies, web browsing, social media, video calling, and so much more. The iPhone is now more than just some cell phone that you make calls on and read email with. Now you have a portable device that feeds a wide spectrum of addictions.
Competitors are now playing catch-up
The easiest way to see how Apple has changed the cell phone market is to look at the competition. RIM rushed out a touch screen phone shortly after the first iPhone hit the market. HTC and Motorola all pushed out several phones in direct competition to the iPhone. RIM and Google have both taken serious strides to improve their cell phone app stores.
All this catching up and trying to surpass what Apple has done only one thing. That is to create better, more complex, and more enjoyable cell phones for consumers to sink their teeth into.
The iPhone came with a lot of speculation on how well it would survive against big cell phone makers like RIM and HTC. Today we can look back and see just how much influence the iPhone has had on the cell phone market. Now, when will Apple finally come out with a CDMA phone?
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