The Technological Evolution of the Smartphone

Abstract

Technological innovation in products generally occurs along the technological “boundaries,” between the two products that share some technology in common. The two product parents allows “good” characteristics from both parents to be mixed, via a process called mutation crossover. The mixing of good genes causes a slight selective market selection advantage for the new product because the prior product markets are composed of consumers in both product markets, who had seen something that looks like the new product before. “Seeing” the new product allows potential users to make decisions about how the new product may fit into their utility function.

Keywords: technology innovation, smartphone

JEL Classification: O31