The third era, the Feature Phone Era (1998–2008), wasn’t nearly as radical a technological leap as the leap from the Brick Era to the Candy Bar Era, but it was an important evolution nonetheless. Up to this point, mobile phones had done three things: make voice calls, send text messages, and play the Snake game. The Feature Phone Era (see FIG 1-5) opened the floodgates to a variety of applications and services on the phone, like listening to music and taking photos, and introduced the use of the Internet on a phone.

During this era, GSM network providers added GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), allowing packet-switched data services. This network evolution is most often referred to as 2.5G, or halfway between 2G and 3G networks. Network providers offering CDMA and other TDMA-based networks followed suit with similar packet-switched data services soon after.

With the introduction of cameras into higher-end feature phones and with increased consumer interest in digital photography, demand for feature phones began to increase. Not soon after, we saw the introduction of the Motorola V3, more commonly known as the RAZR. Although the RAZR was not a technologically advanced phone, its slim form factor and sleek appearance drove demand around the world, selling over 100 million units, to become the second-best-selling mobile phone of all time. 'PC World' magazine ranked it #12 in their “50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years.”

I often joke that the camera phone introduced the mobile web to the world, and that the RAZR promptly broke it (referring to its poor mobile web browser), but it achieved enormous market share.

At last, the Web had reached mobile devices, but due to high prices, poor marketing, and inconsistent rendering, no one was using it. Instead, mobile companies were focusing on creating downloadable ringtones, wallpapers, games, and applications to sell through network operator portals.

When I look back on this period, I think about how little real innovation occurred during this time. Everyone knew what the problems were, everyone knew where we needed to go—but no one seemed interested in getting there. It seemed as though mobile insiders just wanted to see quarterly earnings at the sacrifice of the long-term benefit of the medium.

Sure, there were moments of divine inspiration, but they always seemed to get cut short by the demands of network operators and device makers. You simply couldn’t innovate within the space without their express permission. With the inconsistent interpretation of agreed-upon standards, consumers felt like spectators of a Wild West shootout.

Hope would come from unexpected places soon, helping to shape a new vision for the future of mobile, but only after a decade of mobile designers and developers shed a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.