I remember with fondness the excitement of the PDA (personal digital assistant) era in the late nineties. Everyone wanted a Palm Pilot. Having one device that combined your calendar, budget, information, games and utilities was a miracle of nature at that point. Times and wants have changed, but the foundation of the concept we now know as ‘apps’ was established long, long before mobile phone manufacturers built app stores.

This infographic by [x]Cube Labs illustrates the evolution of mobile operating systems, including Palm back in 1996, and shows just how things started hotting up from 2005 onwards. In today’s mobile environment, the operating system has become the defining USP of a manufacturer, arguably even more important than the handset itself. The fact that the first iPhone, which was terrible at handling calls, led to the current scenario where Nokia is being left in the dust, only goes to support the notion that the future of mobile is 95% about apps and 5% about handsets.