Once again, the iPhone has served as validation for an idea that others have tried but didn't implement as well as Apple did. In this case, it's accelerometer technology, the motion sensing technology that's an integral part of the iPhone as well as Palm's Pre phone.

The accelerometer in the iPhone allows for features like rotating the screen when the device is turned sideways, the iTunes feature to shuffle music songs when the device is shaken, or compass applications found on the App Store.

Market research firm iSuppli tracks the features of more than 1,000 mobile phones from 32 manufacturers, and notes that in 2009, 18.3 percent of those phones had an accelerometer. However, the company expects that number to shoot up to 33 percent by next year. Not bad, considering only one out of 11 cell phones had it in 2008.

Thank you, iPhone. The feature has been around but it took Apple to make it popular.

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