Smartphone Revolution: Technology patenting and licensing fosters innovation, market entry, and exceptional growth

K. Mallinson

9/09/2015
(Original Publish Date: 2015)

It is remarkable how dramatically and rapidly the fortunes of so many mobile-handset vendors have turned with the advance of smartphones. Their marketplace was transformed by Apple?s iPhone starting in 2007 and a succession of Android-based smartphone newcomers since 2008. This has greatly expanded the size of the handset market, with global revenues doubling in the last six years, as consumers substitute more expensive smartphones for their feature phones and basic phones. Yet, the changes have devastated most of the leading incumbent handset vendors.