DrMac's Profile

No difference. The XBox and PS3 aren't "traditional" smart phones, and neither is the iPhone. There are multiple definitions what a "smart phone" is, and you are free to call the iPhone a smart phone, but Chris is correct that for "traditional" smart phone users it is critically important to more or less freely pick from a wide range of applications (like on computers). Go out and ask these people, if you don't believe it. The first widely successful smart phone was the Nokia Communicator many years ago, which created a lot of buzz internationally and its successor models are still quite popular (outside North America). The leading smart phone vendors like Nokia, Motorola, etc. have extensive 3rd party developer programs to support free creation of 3rd party software - similar to PCs. When Nokia launched the N95 in New York, they emphasized this openness for 3rd party software, and call their devices "multimedia computers" to further make their point. While it would be quite natural for Apple to do that in the future, too, for the iPhone - given its high quality base of Mac OS X developers - Steve Jobs has stated clearly that the announced 1st iPhone will run only Apple-approved 3rd party software. There is nothing bad about this. It just means that the iPhone targets a different user segment than traditional smart phones do. Some people here, who like to iPhone but try to argue away the difference to traditional smart phones, prove this point.

I think this analysis is spot on. Another analysis came to the same end result, i.e. that the iPhone is for people who are willing to paz for an entertainment device with phone. http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2007/01/shape-of-smartphone-and-mobile-data.html