Open Kernel Labs Blog

May 18, 2010

What is the difference between a featurephone, a smartphone, and a mass-market smartphone?

So, what is the difference? Let me explain:

Featurephone

Purchase decisions of 80% global mobile phone consumers today are primarily driven by affordability.  In order to compete on price, companies find ways to reduce device costs by offering minimal functionality.  Therefore, leaders in this market segment are low cost manufacturers like Nokia.  Mobile network operators offer affordable voice plans and attract large volumes of subscriber base. Over 1 billion mobile phones ship each year that are categorized as “dumb” phones or “feature” phones. Popular feature phones are Motorola RAZR and Nokia Series 40.

In summary, driving factor of a featurephone is “pay less, do less.”  Key features include:

• Low price 

• Voice and text

Smartphone

People started appreciating a mobile phone for enterprise uses when Research in Motion first introduced a QWERTY device in 2000.  Mobile users enjoyed using a full QWERTY device on the go as they worked on enterprise applications like work email, instant messaging, etc.  Industry experts called this new device a “smartphone” since it instantly increased productivity of the users.  With the emergence of iPhone and Android like technologies, the category of smartphones has evolved into much more sophisticated uses beyond enterprise applications.  A smartphone today offers rich user experiences with touch interfaces and interactive games and applications.  Mobile network operators can thus increase average revenue per user (ARPU) by offering expensive data plans for smartphone use case.  Last year, over 180 million such devices demanded high prices by offering rich user experiences.

In summary, driving factor of a smartphone is “pay more, do more.”  Key features include:

• Touch/QWERTY interface 

• Interactive games and applications (eg. social networking) 

• Internet on the go (eg. full browsing experience, news, email)

Mass-market smartphone

The overarching challenge of thriving in today’s mobile industry is only possible by introducing a new device that meets mass-market expectations.  A proven way to achieve this is to bring smartphone software to feature phone hardware.  Open Kernel Labs developed mobile virtualization technology that enables smartphone operating systems to run on featurephone hardware. Request a complementary copy of the white paper to understand how you can take advantage of this technology.

In summary, driving factor of a mass-market smartphone is “pay less, do more.”  Key features include:

• Affordability 

• Smartphone functionality

Posted by Ram Sarabu on May 18 at 06:03 AM

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About Ram Sarabu:

As a senior product manager, Ram Sarabu talks to customers and partners to identify market opportunities and develops a cohesive strategy for OK Labs products. Prior to OK Labs, he worked 10+ years in product development and product management roles in the mobile industry. He holds a masters in business administration from the University of Chicago and a masters in electrical engineering from Michigan Technological University. In his spare time, Ram enjoys watching sports and playing board games with his two boys.

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