Originally Posted by
Reed Richards Random thought about the future of smartphones: in a few years, will handset RAM, CPU, storage, and battery specs be so good that there is no need to buy new phones every 1 to 2 years? If so, will companies like BlackBerry simply release new versions of their operating systems for, say, $100 every few years? Will phones become like PCs, where few people have a need to upgrade their computers as often as years ago?
Some people will always want a new handset just for the sake of something new (much like some car owners), but I could see people holding on to the same handset for 3 to 5 years, as long as it was durable. In that case, BlackBerry could say, ok we're at BB10.5 right now, we're not going to upgrade it any longer, so the next OS will be BB11, and the upgrade will not come for free. You can stay where you are, or you can upgrade.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but with Droids, users might get minor version upgrades, depending on the manufacturer of their handsets and their carriers, but they won't get an entirely new flavor on their same handsets.
We've talked about BlackBerry ceasing to make handsets. This scenario would go further - the company would no longer need to have a physical phone sold to sell its software. Who knows, it could even move to a subscription fee for its operating system, rather then a one-time fee.