The blogosphere is alive today with news of the HTC Touch smartphone.
I'm an unashamed fan of Windows Mobile but I won't be buying myself one of these. Why not? Because I don't believe that touchscreens are a killer feature for mobile phones. Touchscreens have been with us for some time now (I had a Windows Mobile touchscreen device myself until about 6 months ago) but they don't offer something that you can't do already, they only offer a slightly different way of doing it. As such I don't see this news resulting in a new wave of applications and services for mobile phones. Of course, that won't stop Apple's iPhone selling like hotcakes.
So, if touchscreens aren't the killer feature for mobile phones, what is? Simple. GPS. When GPS-equipped phones reach suitable market penetration I expect to see a whole raft of location-aware applications entering the mainstream.
We're already seeing some applications with the introduction of Windows Live Mobile and, later, Google Maps for Mobile; both of which have features that integrate with your phone's GPS receiver (if it has one). Do you want to find your nearest restaurant, cinema or hospital? Lost and want to know how to get to somewhere familiar? These two applications will both help you.
What say you dear reader? Are you planning to rush out buy an HTC Touch? Or perhaps you're one of the massed hoards waiting for the iPhone? Let me know by posting a comment.
-Jamie