At the 2010 Mobile World Congress (held February 15-18), in Barcelona Spain, thought leaders, tech companies and mobility experts have come together to discuss and display what the mobile future looks like.

But according to Ashlee Vance, a writer for the New York Times, the technology industry has for the first time in years, “paused for a rare moment of reflection.” In other words, disruptive innovation hasn’t made an appearance yet at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC). Instead, innovative modifications on existing designs have dominated MWC. And according to this NYT article, many of those adjustments have been made to Cupertino-inspired design. In other words, for tablets, phones, interfaces and software — it seems that the mobile future looks like, well, what Apple is rolling out now.

So what gives? Why, when everyone is zigging (going the Apple route) isn’t anyone zagging? Why aren’t technology companies thinking “outside of the apple” to innovate? A possible answer:

Tech companies are simply innovating smarter.

We’ve all heard the phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” And it definitely applies here. Some of the greatest innovations (including from Apple) have been created by observing an existing product, service or business model, then finding any unmet needs it creates in market, and fulfilling them with innovative ideas — no matter how small those concepts or adjustments may be.

Apple is a world leader in technology — they’ve created great design that is already enormously successful. By building on this existing design, tech companies have the chance to innovate on nearly solid ground — creating opportunities to take something great and make it even better. And in the end, the greatest tech innovations could be the intelligent, needs-based modifications that improve on a current platform.

So, at this year’s 2010 Mobile World Congress, the next great innovation may not be completely new. But if only we measure innovation by novelty or disruption, we may miss out on point of innovation altogether — and on the next big idea.

Have you seen the new Maddock Douglas homepage?

Follow Maddock Douglas on Twitter

Read More In: News, Rumors, Gossip, & Trends Mobility and Telecom New Products, Services, and Business Models Innovation Community Ideas