Rob Glazer Still Going on About Superphones

Home / Mobile Computers / Rob Glazer Still Going on About Superphones

Rob Glazer Still Going on About Superphones

Posted by Zealot on Jul 08, 2010

This post was published 1 year 10 months 16 days ago which may make its actuality or expire date not be valid anymore. This site is not responsible for any misunderstanding.

“Superphone” has been growing into the hot buzzword over the last couple years, ever since it was coined on GigaOM by John Sangiovanni. Since then, the term has gone more than a little out of control. A Superphone is of course one of the big screened, app driven, powerful monsters that have become the big news on blogs like this one. The iPhone, the Droid X, the EVO 4G, the Galaxy S…can’t really call them Smartphones anymore…so why not Superphones?

The term has been taken up by Rob Glazer, the CEO Of RealNetworks. In fact, he likes the term so much he is hosting a mobile investing panel at the MobileBeat 2010 conference on July 12 called “The Year of the Superphone.”

However, when I look at the table he prepared comparing Smartphones and Superphones, the thing I have suspected for a long time was made even clearer than before…

He is right that there is little relation between a Smartphone and a Superphone…because Superphones are MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) as Intel called them when they tried to popularize them a couple years ago (and more or less failed). This isn’t a new product category so much as the market catching up to the early adaptors and causing two product types, phones and MIDs, to converge at last.

This harkens back to my point last week, that while those devices are certainly Super, I doubt you can call them phones anymore. It is a bit like insisting that a Food Processor is a Blender. Sure it may have evolved from a blender, and you can use it as a blender, but to call it that obscures that it can do so much more.

Let’s drop the “phone” thing once and for all and admit it, these are handheld computers. The PPC model evolved. Nothing more nothing less. Now I know the terms PPC and MID and Mobile Internet Device are played out, and no one much likes Internet Tablets…How about Communications Tablet, or CommTab? I admit it sounds a little Star Trekky but I like it…and I am getting really sick of the word Superphones.

Tagged with smartphones, Superphones

Zealot (839 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

By day a department manager and writer for a major network device vendor...by night Zealot stalks the mean magnetic streets, striking fear into the hearts of bandwidth abusers and theme park mascots. Zealot has been involved with mobile devices for more than a decade now, starting off with dumb phones, moving to PDAs and then to smartphones, notebooks and netbooks with the odd PMP thrown in. Most of his mobile time currently is spent on a Treo Pro, Zune HD, Thinkpad T61, HP Mini 311, iPod Touch 3G, iPad 16G or a Hackintoshed Compaq Mini 704. He proudly groks the Geek community and considers himself a Neo Maxi Zune Dweebie (thanks Wil Wheaton!).

SHARE THIS POST:

RELATED POSTS:

Smartphone or Superphone?

HTC Rose. What is it?

First Looks at Moto’s Droid X

Moscow Rules? Samsung Galaxy S TWO Leaked in Russia?

Bus Stop Convergence

ADVERTISEMENT

http://twitter.com/mobilitysite/status/18030499756 mobilitysite

Posted: Rob Glazer Still Going on About Superphones http://bit.ly/bV8sbM
http://twitter.com/whoisstan whoisstan

At PercentMobile we have been using the term Experience Phone. http://delivr.com/118sq
http://www.svpocketpc.com Pony99CA

In the words of the cool kids, FAIL. Experience has really always been important (Palm built their company on it).

CommTab is better (although, personally, I don't consider 3.5″ to 4.5″ to be a real “tablet”). Maybe NetPhones or AppPhones would work.

Steve
http://www.svpocketpc.com Pony99CA

Superphones are MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) as Intel called them when Big Blue tried to popularize them a couple years ago (and more or less failed).

Sorry, but “Big Blue” is and always will be IBM. Wikipedia proves that. :P

Steve
http://www.svpocketpc.com Pony99CA

In the words of the cool kids, FAIL. Experience has really always been important (Palm built their company on it).

CommTab is better (although, personally, I don't consider 3.5″ to 4.5″ to be a real “tablet”). Maybe NetPhones or AppPhones would work.

Steve
http://www.svpocketpc.com Pony99CA

Superphones are MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) as Intel called them when Big Blue tried to popularize them a couple years ago (and more or less failed).

Sorry, but “Big Blue” is and always will be IBM. Wikipedia proves that. :P

Steve
http://bardhaven.wordpress.com Zealot

You are right of course…I was tired and my mind flipped IBM for Intel. Never blog while tired.
http://bardhaven.wordpress.com Zealot

You are right of course…I was tired and my mind flipped IBM for Intel. Never blog while tired.
TOCA

What the name will end up being depends on the advertizing business, and sinece they have been using “Smartphone” for any thing that could do little more than placing a call, indeed a new word is needed.
I believe the manufactores like their products to be called super, but in my world, the old name PDA-phones still covers what they are, even if the display size passes 4″ and SVGA and are made by fruit grossers or search giants.
TOCA

What the name will end up being depends on the advertizing business, and sinece they have been using “Smartphone” for any thing that could do little more than placing a call, indeed a new word is needed.
I believe the manufactores like their products to be called super, but in my world, the old name PDA-phones still covers what they are, even if the display size passes 4″ and SVGA and are made by fruit grossers or search giants.
http://www.svpocketpc.com Pony99CA

At least blogging while tired is better than texting while driving. Now, if you were blogging while driving tried, that would really be bad. :D

Steve
http://www.svpocketpc.com Pony99CA

At least blogging while tired is better than texting while driving. Now, if you were blogging while driving tried, that would really be bad. :D

Steve

Rob Glazer Still Going on About Superphones

Subscription

Comments

In the Forums

Tags

Links

Blogroll

Polls

About Mobilitysite

Links