The sentiment being expressed here is that, similar to the way that the car and clock enriched lives, today, the smartphone is poised to do the same. Put another way, Comparable to the way the car and clock did, in their time, today the smartphone is poised to enrich lives......... The 'much as' is probably a contraction of 'in so much as' or 'in as much as' which has a slightly old-fashioned air to it. I hope that helps - even a little bit?

Much as X did Y earlier, so Z is about to do a similar thing now. "In the same way that X did Y earlier, Z is about to do a similar thing (as Y) now." X = "the car and clock" Y = "enrich lives, reshape entire industries and transform societies" Z = "the smart phone"

Not the easiest sentence to understand, rephrasing it might make it more clear: Today the smartphone is poised to transform societies as much as car and clock did in their time. In more simple terms what author means is that: The invention of a car and a clock transformed societies. Today the smartphone is poised to do it also and to a same degree. As much as idiom: http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/much+as