In the technology business, sometimes it is not the big changes but the smaller, incremental moves that matter the most. In 2007, gadget-lovers swooned as Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, Apple’s much-anticipated foray into the mobile handset market. But it wasn’t until this year, with the launch of a faster, 3G version of the Apple handset and the unveiling of the iPhone “App Store” – which lets customers browse and install thousands of games and tools directly from their mobile phones – that the handset came into its own.

Boosted by the iPhone 3G’s launch in 20 countries in July, Apple took the number three spot in the global smartphone market in the third quarter, according to Gartner, the market research group. In less than 18 months, iPhone sales have eclipsed those of smartphones using Windows Mobile, the mobile operating system that Microsoft has been working on for the better part of a decade.