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Perhaps you've heard: The iPhone goes on sale June 29. Good luck getting your hands on one.
Apple's chief Steve Jobs has managed to get everyone from gadget geeks to soccer moms talking about an expensive music phone with a big screen and no buttons. Apple's initial supply is sure to sell out immediately, and Jobs expects to sell 10 million iPhones worldwide by the end of next year.
If the iPhone is as good as it looks, and Apple's wireless bet pays off, the most direct winner will be AT&T, the phone's exclusive carrier, which stands to steal millions of customers from its rivals, like Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile, a division of Deutsche Telekom.
But don't write eulogies for the other cellular companies yet. The iPhone is a threat to the wireless industry, but it's also helped convince millions that spending $500 or more on a cellphone, and another $40 per month for a wireless data plan, is completely within reason. Each competing carrier and handset company has juiced up its product line, marketing one or more new, high-end smart phones that mix phone calls, the Internet and multimedia capabilities like music and video players.
This week, for example, No. 3 wireless carrier Sprint Nextel unveiled a new smart phone called the Sprint Mogul, which sports features similar to the iPhone: a large touchscreen display, wireless e-mail, a digital camera, wi-fi hotspot access and music and video playback functions.
The Mogul doesn't look quite as futuristic or elegant as the iPhone, but it has some features Apple's phone lacks, like a removable battery, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard for thumbing messages, access to a "third-generation" (3G) Internet connection for fast mobile Web access and downloadable software applications that let you turn your smart phone into a mini computer.
In fact, some of those capabilities have many people thinking twice about the iPhone. Apple addressed two of its shortcomings this week, announcing that the iPhone's battery will last significantly longer than expected--up to eight hours of talk time,
But the iPhone still has some drawbacks. It can only connect to AT&T's "EDGE" wireless data network, which is slower than 3G--a bummer, because Web pages look as good in Apple's iPhone commercials as they've ever looked on a mobile phone.
Using EDGE means they'll take longer to load. The iPhone also relies on software for its keyboard--customers are expected to type e-mails and text messages using two-dimensional, on-screen "buttons," which don't offer the tactile feedback people are accustomed to on Research In Motion BlackBerrys, Palm Treos, Motorola Qs or other competing smart phones.
That hasn't stopped other device manufacturers from making the same bet Jobs made on touchscreen-only interfaces--and it might be a winner.
U.K.-based research firm Canalys reported Thursday that 23% of respondents to a recent survey said that having a touchscreen display would be OK if it meant having a bigger smart phone screen.
Touchscreen enthusiasm was up to 50% higher among people interested in mobile TV services or mobile e-mail services, which is good news for carriers that are looking to sell pricier handsets while making up for declining cellphone-call revenue through entertainment services and data subscriptions.
Taiwanese phone manufacturer HTC, which makes Sprint's Mogul, recently unveiled a touchscreen phone of its own, aptly named Touch. Like the iPhone, Touch relies on screen sensors and your fingers to dial numbers, type messages and navigate menus. Unlike the iPhone, it runs Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, which may benefit some business users and will probably alienate the Apple faithful.
For those corporate subscribers tethered to their BlackBerry, RIM now sells devices that mix its popular e-mail service with fun features like digital cameras and music and video playback. Its newest model, Curve, is now available to U.S. consumers via AT&T.