InfoWorld’s Bill Snyder has a thought-provoking piece today claiming that “Mobile saturation means innovation will slow.” The smartphone market is moving at full throttle now, Snyder writes, but it is already showing signs of slowing in many regions as it reaches the saturation point. I encourage you to read the entire piece, but here’s the nut graph:

The mobile industry is hardly on the edge of an abyss, and the sky is not falling. But all this reminds me of the PC market in the 1990s, which also grew at a phenomenal rate. When the PC market approached saturation, profits declined as vendors fought for market share, and innovation slowed to the point where PCs became commodities. We may be headed in that direction yet again.

Snyder makes some great points, and there’s no question that subscriber growth is slowing in the U.S. and in some other markets. But while the PC market is clearly defined and delineated, the term “mobile” refers to an ever-increasing number of devices and services — from smartphones and (usually) tablets to wearable devices, connected cars and all sorts of other gadgets and platforms. We’ll continue to see all kinds of innovation there from hardware manufacturers, carriers and others looking to generate revenue beyond the traditional subscriber model. So smartphone saturation will actually serve as a catalyst for innovation in the overall mobile market rather than a hurdle.