[haesslich]

Originally Posted by SteveHoward999

I think you would see things differently if you actually had one of these phones. I took a little time trying to find software for my wife's RAZR and found applications that can replicate pretty-much everything I do with my PocketPC - not that I know if they are better/worse/same as the PPC software, but the applications are there. Same for my Nokia 6682 and E62, except that for these I can say for sure that the applications are at least as good as the PPC equivalents.

I have little doubt that your average teenager is more interested in ringtones and soft-porn images of their favourite movie stars than PIM clients. Never forget, though, that today's teenager is tomorrow's business user. Just because it may be true that your typical phone user TODAY is not so interested in installing applications that this makes such a feature irrelevant or undesirable, because you can be sure they'll be using their phones for more things tomorrow.

I use a Nokia running s60. My sister runs a Motorola RAZR... and outside of the games which come on it, she doesn't seem much into downloading them. The other phones I've seen used in public (on the bus, waiting for things in line, etc) are usually being used for IM or maybe Snake or similar simpler games which are usually built into the ROM. As I noted, Symbian s60 phones from Nokia are among those I consider a smartphone, primarily because they're easier to install productivity applications to. The RAZR ones I've seen, but tend to discount due to the observations I've made in public. You and your wife may be using these, and the programs ARE there and available... but I dont' see them being used often in public.

Most BUSINESS people, on the other hand, are using HP iPaq phones, Blackberries, or Treos, or at least the ones I usually run into at work or downtown. Most of them don't seem to be using their RAZRs for heavy PIM work, from what I can tell - contact lists, the odd alarm or appointments, and so forth seem to be the limit there.

With the convergence of PDAs into phones, you're right in one area - it's almost inevitable that people will be using their phones for much more than just taking calls in the future. At the same time, the iPhone isn't apparently intended for people who'll be wanting 50 things running on their phone at once; those people tend to be the ones who know enough to get a Treo or some flavor of Windows Mobile phone (thanks to HP, Asus, etc). Also, as noted, I suspect that the Widget functionality the iPhone offers may actually take over for a lot of applications for the less-technologically savvy users; they're relatively safe as they're scripts (in other words, they're doing the same thing Java is supposed to do: run in a sandbox which doesn't interfere with the rest of the system's operations), and they potentially provide a lot of light functionality without going too far into the OS.

One thing a phone CANNOT afford to do is crash - the early RAZRs have a reputation for crashing, from what I've seen personally (my sister) and from what I've garnered talking with multiple people who sell the buggers at various cell phone companies. Closing the OS development a bit MAY prevent issues with 'bad apps' crashing the phones (which is good)... but it may not. We'll see how the market votes in a year or so, to see if Apple's stance is borne out or not.

I can say safely that the iPod's popularity has NOT been hurt by its relative lack of applications or the ability to install new features/programs short of changing the OS that operates it. Simplicity has its virtues, as much as we laud versatility.