&gt;Like you, I once had many products that each fulfilled a separate function: a landline, a cellphone, a camera, a video recorder, a stereo, a calendar. Now, I have one product that does all of those things — a smartphone. <i>This level of product integration was a revolution in product design.</i><p>Is the smartphone really a revolution in product design or just the inevitability of technological convergence? There is essentially no fundamental difference between products listed. Sure, the user function may differ, but the actual implementations are all based on the same phenomena: stored information manipulable through electromagnetic fields.<p>How early on was a device like the modern smartphone conceived? I&#x27;d wager not long after the discovery of silicon transistors.