[antiRepublicrat]

The carrier literally had no control over it.

What carrier? Sprint and Verizon before Android, the two I have experience with, had pretty tight control.

The iPhone actually introduced a new paradigm in which the carrier has total control (and final approval) of what apps run on your phone. See AT&T here saying they wouldn’t allow it on their network:

The carriers always had that. Even with Apple the carrier takes over when the data has to cross through its networks. No use approving an app if AT&T says they won't allow it to work on their network.

There's no technical reason why the smartphone market didn't explode until the iPhone. It's business and design. Likewise, there was no technical reason digital music players didn't take off until the iPod, tablets didn't take off until the iPad, and digital music stores didn't take off before iTunes. The general concepts were achievable using the technologies of the times before Apple, as in all cases the products existed before Apple's products.

[Echo4C]

Which WinMo phones have you had on Verizon and which apps did they prevent you from installing?

[PugetSoundSoldier]

What carrier? Sprint and Verizon before Android, the two I have experience with, had pretty tight control.

Ever used a WinMo phone? I've used one for 3 years now (Samsung i760, and now an HTC Touch Pro2) on Verizon. Verizon has ZERO ABILITY to stop me from loading any application I so choose. I download the install package and install. They have NEVER had the ability to block me from installing whatever I want.

Consider tethering, for example. I've been doing it for 3 years. PDAnet at first, and for the last year and a half, WMWiFiRouter. Verizon can do nothing about it, and neither can Samsung or HTC. Microsoft created WinMo to be a very open and extensible OS, and just like Echo wrote - it's like my PC. I can load and run any application I like.

There's no technical reason why the smartphone market didn't explode until the iPhone.

What? Did you know that there were over 80 MILLION smartphones sold in 2006? That's nearly double the total number of iPhones EVER sold. Nokia is the HUGE monster worldwide in terms of smartphones, and RIM has been the smartphone leader in the US for, well, ever. Apple's NEVER been a leader in smartphones. Ever. And never exploded the market.

Sorry, the facts of marketshare and growth simply do not back you up on this one. In fact, the iPhone shares more in common with an LG featurephone (where you can only install apps from the carrier) than with what traditionally was considered a smartphone (where you could customize and install applications as desired).

Smartphones have been around for nearly 20 years, from 1992 back with IBM's Simon. Nokia's been selling smartphones for nearly 15 years. Microsoft's WinMo and WinCE were the smartphone OS of choice in the US for nearly all the 2000s. Apple didn't explode anything...

By the way, an interesting graph to prove the point:

How a 4th place player becomes the one who "exploded the market" is a tale I'd be interested in hearing...