history

A brief history of smartphones

It seems as though just about everyone owns a smartphone, even though it 
wasn't that long ago that the technology was first introduced to the general public.
 With their advanced computing capabilities and other features, smartphones 
have quickly gained popularity. Prior to the invention of smartphones, there 
were several devices that were used including regular mobile phones, and
 PDA devices. Eventually technology was combined and the concept of the
smartphone was born.

The first concepts that eventually led to the invention of the smartphone 
date back to the 1970s. It was not however until 1992 that IBM came 
up with a prototype mobile phone that incorporated PDA features. The device 
was demonstrated the same year at a computer industry trade show called 
COMDEX. In 1994, BellSouth came up with a more refined version of the phone 
and called it the Simon Personal Communicator. This is the first device
 that could really be referred to as a smartphone. The Simon Personal 
Communicator was able to make and receive calls, send faxes and emails,
 and more.

In the later part of the 1990s, many mobile phone users began carrying 
PDAs (personal digital assistants). Early PDAs ran on various systems 
such as Blackberry OS, and Palm OS. Nokia released a phone combined 
with a PDA in 1996. The device was called the Nokia 9000. In 1999, a smartphone 
was released by Qualcomm. 

The pdQ smartphone, as it was called, featured a Palm PDA with internet
 connectivity capabilities. Smartphone technology continued to advance
 throughout the early 2000s. These advances in technology brought about 
the introduction of the iPhone, the Android operating system and more.