That's begging the question; the only reason phones aren't general-purpose computers is because Google and Apple tend to block out anything that would let the user actually use the computer as more than a toy.
Yeah, and Q-Tips weren't meant to go in your ear, but we do it anyway. Modern smart phones are built to run applications - they're built with a CPU, RAM, and storage, just like your desktop. The only thing special about them is the integration of the cellular phone radio/modem into the main chip. Doesn't matter what they were or weren't "meant for", it matters what they _are_. Smart phones, nowadays, are essentially general-purpose ARM computers with really good power management.
Phones were never a general-purpose computing platform to start with.
That's begging the question; the only reason phones aren't general-purpose computers is because Google and Apple tend to block out anything that would let the user actually use the computer as more than a toy.
Mobile phones preceed Google and Apple, including the whole concept of stores and selling apps.
Series 30, Series 60, brew, J2ME, Psion OS, Pocket PC,....
They were never general purpose computers.
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Yeah, and Q-Tips weren't meant to go in your ear, but we do it anyway. Modern smart phones are built to run applications - they're built with a CPU, RAM, and storage, just like your desktop. The only thing special about them is the integration of the cellular phone radio/modem into the main chip. Doesn't matter what they were or weren't "meant for", it matters what they _are_. Smart phones, nowadays, are essentially general-purpose ARM computers with really good power management.
Some people have this hurge to turn anything with CPU into something beyond their original purpose, the large majority of consumers don't.