Smartphones used to be the domain of supergeeks and tech professionals – people who needed or desperately wanted the functionality of a full computer in a tidy mobile platform. As the devices became more popular and the desire for on-the-go web capabilities grew you could almost smell the storm coming.

Then the iPhone came out and sold millions, spurring competitors to make their own touchscreen wonderphone. We’ve now got the Blackberry Storm, the HTC G1, the Palm Pre, the Nokia N97, and the Samsung Jet, all running on a different operating system. While the manufacturers tout the hardware features that make their phone the best (physical keyboards, a screen that clicks, a camera with a flash), consumers are starting to look to the software that runs the phone, and the applications they’re finally able to install, to make a decision.

Apple has been most successful with third party application sales and support due to their App Store, which opened in mid-July, 2008. Since release, the App Store has seen more than a billion application downloads and now showcases more than 50,000 third party applications. From games to translators, finance tools to ereaders, the Apple App Store has an app for almost anything, leaving its competitors lagging far behind.

It’s taken nearly a year for competitors to get their mobile application stores up and running, time during which Apple has continued to lure consumers with the promise of a robust app catalog. As Business Insider points out, consumers aren’t just investing in a phone, they’re investing in a platform, with application quality and quantity as a major component of that investment. In a similar article, BI adds that time users spend with applications is replacing time spent on the web. Apps like Yelp allow users quick access to restaurant reviews, where before they would have been using Google.

This isn’t just good news for Apple, it’s an important statistic for developers. Read the rest of this entry »

Just a week ago we were lauding the success of the Palm Pre with its 50,000 unit opening weekend. Earlier today we got news that the iPhone 3GS has sold 1M units at launch, despite having the “smallest” launch for the device to date.

Samsung enters the fray walking tall and carrying forty pound sledge: the Samsung Jet. According to Samsung, they’ve received 2M preorders for their WinMo smartphone. The Jet runs on the same 800MHz processor as the 3GS, though the iPhones is underclocked. The Jet also has an AMOLED screen and a 5MP camera, two improvements over the iPhone. It comes with Windows Mobile 6.1 installed, which isn’t everyone’s favorite touch platform. An update to 6.5 could be a serious improvement for WinMo users.

The Jet preorder sales make it the largest handset order Samsung has ever seen. The phone will be available at the end of the month.