Are they more than mobile phones?

Most of us remember in the late 1980's when a friend or colleague told us about a phone he/she had recently had installed into his/her car.  It was called a cellular phone, or more commonly, a car phone.  Another application of the same technology was a phone contraption packaged in a bag, like a back pack.  In both instances, the handset resembled the wired phone we had at home.  The new technology was special, but before too long, it was common to own a car phone or bag phone.

Technology progressed and the prices came down.  The next iteration was a smaller device that was handheld, often called a flip phone. Blackberry created a new combination of technologies and linked the telephone application to the Internet (note: the Internet was a notion unknown to most of us when we purchased our first cellphone).  The functionality of the Internet component was awkward and the download time was slow, but at a minimum, the Blackberry brought email to our cellphones.

In 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone that brought a quantum leap to the technology applications available on our cellphones ("smart phones") and made vast improvements in the speed of data transmission and quality of visual presentation.  A competing set of devices were introduced within a year, generally known as Androids (or droids).  Eighteen months ago, Apple brought to the market a hugely popular devise that is between an iPhone and laptop called the iPad.  The second version of the product was introduced last month and sales have outpaced production.  Most of us either have or want to have the iPad.

What we used to call a cellphone is now more aptly called a mobile device.  We call them smart phones, but realistically, they are small, handheld computers that include telephone capabilities.  In 2010, 30% of the US cellphone users owned a smart phone.  Of the smart phone owners, 29% own one of theDroid products, 27% own Blackberries and 27% own iPhone. Within 18 months, that number of smart phone users is projected to reach 70%.  Technology experts are also suggesting that by 2013 there will be more connections to the Internet from mobile devices (smart phones and iPad type products) than from PC's or laptops. The implications for the delivery of information is significant. Many consumers will no longer be willing to wait until they are home to research a query on their computer or a resource book.  Instead, they will desire to have the information immediately retrievable on their smart phone.  It is an exciting change from a real estate perspective. We now have an opportunity  to deliver property information to any consumer who is sitting in front of a home they find attractive by pushing it to them on their smart phone

The next few years are going to be interesting and fun. Hold tight, it looks like the best is yet to come.