iPhone 3G Puts Sexy into Smartphone

Leading market research firm NPD says iPhone now outsells the Motorola RAZR. Motorola’s flip-phone was all the rage back in the days when Kerry was running for Pres. And it’s been the best selling cell-phone for the last twelve consecutive quarters. Does the general public’s demand for feature-rich cell-phones mean Apple is making us smarter? 

iPhone Outsells RAZR

It wasn’t that long ago tech-writers were saying things like… “Smartphones are designed for a tiny segment of the population. The average Joe is satisfied flipping open his RAZR and talking to mom.”

That was a close facsimile to what I was saying back in the days when the height of mobile fashion was pulling out a Star Trek inspired Motorola flip-phone and doing your best James T. Kirk. 

“Scotty, you can beam me up anytime now.” 

According to NPD analyst: 

"The displacement of the RAZR by the iPhone 3G represents a watershed shift in handset design from fashion to fashionable functionality," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD. "Four of the five best-selling handsets in the third quarter were optimized for messaging and other advanced Internet features." 

Back in ’04 the flip-phone form factor was the only choice for the mainstream. You flip it open - dial and talk. Simplicity is all anyone wanted out of a cell phone. Pull out a stylus and start talking about datebooks and file-folders and most people would treat you as if you had a very dry, hacking cough. 

Smartphones loaded with operating systems like Palm, Symbian, CE or Windows Mobile were a geek’s curiosity at best. They were far from mainstream acceptability. 

But somehow Apple, love ‘em or hate ‘em, has been able to make a full-featured Smartphone appeal to the mainstream and actually outsell the RAZR. Make no mistake, I have no love for Apple! I find their products consistently overpriced and for all their razzle-dazzle, often lacking in essential features. 

But you’ve gotta hand it to Jobs and company out in Cupertino CA. They’ve somehow managed to insert mass sex-appeal into something as unsexy as a Personal Data Assistant.