Re:Smartphones set to become the fastest spreading technolog...
by degusta on Wednesday May 09, 2012 @09:15PM
(#3951375)
I wrote the underlying article - thanks for catching that I wasn't using 2007/iPhone as the timeline base.
The 2002 date was when I was saying smart phones reached general consumer availability, not when the very first one was invented. As I mention in the article, it was 2002 when Blackberry phones and Microsoft Pocket PC phones came out, as well as the aforementioned Palm-based Treos.
FWIW, here's the source article: http://www.technologyreview.com/business/40321/ And the HN discussion thread (empty, just submitted it) for it: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3951352
The source article is claiming 2002 as first availability, when Palm's and their ilk gained the ability to make phone calls.
Then it claims it took ~8 years to reach 10% saturation, and then another ~2 1/2 to reach 40% saturation.
I don't think you can call the first cell capable palm pilots the first smartphone, but that's where the article starts.