Readers embrace smartphones
Nearly 2/3 of the readers that voted in the poll last week have “smart” phones — small web-enabled computers that also send/received phone calls:
Q: What operating system does your mobile phone use?
- Basic mobile/no idea of the OS 48 (36%)
- iPhone OS (Apple) 35 (26%)
- Blackberry (Research in Motion) 17 (13%)
- Android (Google) 12 (9%)
- Windows Mobile 9 (7%)
- webOS (Palm) 6 (4%)
- Other answer… 3 ( 2%)
- I don’t have a mobile phone 3 (2%)
- Symbian (Nokia) 1 (1%)
- Hip Top (Danger’s Sidekick) 0 (0%)
Just as the increased usage of the original cell phone led to the near extinction of the pay phone, the increased use of smart phones will render obsolete the internet cafe where you pay by the hour to use a computer. Public wi-fi will become more important. Time marches on and technology will continue to change our lives and cities.
– Steve Patterson
I always assumed internet cafes had long ago been rendered obsolete in the US, even before so many people had smart phones. Luckily for international travelers, internet cafes continue to thrive in the developing world (where most people don't own personal computers or smart phones), making it cheap and easy to get online and keep in touch with people back home.