Since my last post about smartphone consumer rates the iPhone 4S has been released and Steve Jobs, the visionary behind Apple, has passed away. This has lead to a media frenzy about how Jobs shaped today’s technology and speculation about the direction Apple is headed in his absence.

The article “How Apple outsmarted RIM and Nokia” is a further exploration of the smartphone shift. It’s not the qualitative facts – percentages of consumerism of one smartphone compared to another, but rather the explanation of that shift. The article pinpoints the factors that make the iPhone both user-friendly, and trendy.

The iPhone marketing and advertising is credited to Steve Jobs, a huge factor of consumer popularity is due to Apple’s omnipresence. Apple ads are both ubiquitous and have a way of capturing the consumer -similar to your favourite sports team- you just want to revel in the collective identity and success. Apple’s success compared to Nokia and Rim however can be credited to Jobs’ creation of an “eco-system.” The eco-system is iTunes and the app. The app network will continue to attract new businesses to develop their own apps for the iPhone. This system creates stability and insurance for Apple’s future.