"The much hyped iPhone is so far behind other smartphones with all-important applications, that it will never catch up." - Inspired by the slew of applications and developers Nokia, Symbian, Microsoft and Palm already have

The iPhone is a cool phone and it has a lot of consumer attaction, but it will never dominate the corporate environment. Just like the Mac, it has its niches in the corporate world, but there just isn't enough maintstream software available to give it the required advantage to get people to move. And, like the Mac, the effort required to migrate from mainstream platforms (RIM, Palm, Win Mobile) can't be justified.

The iPhone may be behind established smartphones, such as the Treo (which has thousands, on both Windows Mobile and Palm OS). But do people camp outside Palm vendors for weeks, just to be the first to get the latest Treo? No. That difference - the universal assumption of excellence from Apple products - is what will make the iPhone a serious contender in the smartphone market for years. Steve Jobs expected 200 third-party apps for the launch of the 3G iPhone; he got 500. What does that tell you about developers' excitement for this product?

The iPhone might not dominate the smartphone industry, but it will certainly catch up to its rivals.

It's all about passion. Anyone can accomplish anything they like, e.g. pursuing an education, getting a great career, etc. But those with passion for what they are doing will always beat out the rest. A great job can make you a living, but passion can make you millions. Right now, the number of passionate users and programmers are on the side of Apple, as evident by the long lines and how quickly coders are jailbreaking it.

The other thing is the software tools Apple has given to coders. The iPhone SDK is miles above anything else. Programmers can really appreciate these tools and quickly realize what power they really have. The iPhone is a Ferrari. The SDK is the engine. And the PASSION is the fuel.

It will not be a surprise when the iPhone apps pass up the others in terms of numbers.

I am a Project Manager at one of Washington D.C.'s major Universities. Our CIO has informed us that the school bookstore reports around 75% of the incoming freshmen class this year will be bringing with them Apple computers ...last year only around 33% brought Apple products...I am not sure if this a trend across many other, or any other, higher-ed institutions, but let's pretend it is for one second: that's potentially 75% of a generation which will be (or is) growing up on Apple....4+ years later, this generation (and possibly those following) will enter the work force demanding Apple product in workplace (as long as we have all the apps we need to do our work of course). Looks to me like a pretty solid start to to catching up, don't you think?

The iPhone may be a Ferrari, but its a Ferrari in which developers can only sit in the passenger seat.

WinMo and Palm have thousands upon thousands of apps because anyone can develop and sell them. There is no single entity telling developers what they can and cant do. Apple had tens of thousands of applicants for the app store so the interest for development IS there. But only 500 made it, because Steve said so. I have "unapproved" apps on my jailbroken iPhone from 3rd parties. There are so many apps from *great* programs that the developer says they will never be able to sell through the App store because they do not meet apple's requirements for selling there.

The 3rd party apps for the iPhone will never flourish until Steve lets developers out from under his turtle neck.

Apple won't catch up? Wow. Someone is missing the boat on the power of marketing and branding. MS is associated with buggy code and an inability to adapt to market shifts . . . which is quite the opposite of Apple. Apple doesn't fast-follow like MS; they change the whole game. Also, who do you think will win this marketing war when it heats up? My money is on Apple with the iPhone . . . keep in mind that they haven't even turned up the heat yet.

Here is an interesting and must read article on iphone fallacies.I had envisioned the iphone downfall long back

http://www.millionface.com/l/does-rest-of-the-world-need-iphone-reasons-...

For some of us it is more a matter of what the I/T department supports and our employer provides.

Matteo, the I/T folks at this university are reporting a growing upswing in Apple users.

iPhone: great product, bad marketing.

The iPhone is an outstanding product, 5 years ahead in user interface and technology.

In March 2003 the Apple share value was $7, in July 2008 it is $180. In the last 5 years the Apple share value increased a spectacular 2500%

but Apple did a lot of mistakes in marketing the iPhone:

Marketing mistake #1 - reducing the iPhone retail price from $599 to $399 - a 33% rebate - after only 3 months from the product launch.
This way Apple betrayed the iPhone early adopters - and their most faithful costumers.

Mistake #2 – now – lowering the iPhone price even down to $199 – 66% less than the original launch price, just 12 months after.
Can we expect the iPhone price to be $20 by December?

Mistake #3 - Forcing costumers in signing with AT&T as exclusive carrier.
Result: slowing down sales of the iPhone.

Mistake #4 – Late launch in European markets. US launch: June 2007. In Nov. 2007 the iPhone was launched in UK, Germany and France.
on July 11, 2008 – 1 full year after the first launch - the iPhone gets launched in most of the other European countries: Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands. And in Japan and Australia.

Mistake #5 – absurd and jammed pricing of the iPhone and carrier monthly fees in European countries.
Result: killing big slices of potential sales of the iPhone in Europe.
And making a big favour to Nokia and Motorola.

Summary of iPhone prices in Europe:
http://www.vertygoteam.com/iphone_price.php

Analysis of the iPhone marketing strategy:
http://www.vertygoteam.com/iphone_marketing_strategy.php

The statement that the iPhone can't catch up is absurd. If there were any single killer application in the smart phone market that everybody used there might be some merit to the statement, however the simple truth is that there are many platforms and consequently many different applications that compete for ones attention.

18,000 applications. Great. How many of those applications does any one person actually use? How many of those applications are used by any meaningful audience at all? I would bet the the most widely used cell phone application, not related to making phone calls, is iTunes...available only on the iPhone. And business apps are coming so watch out.

I am interested to see what happens with Google's Android platform. As it matures into something usable, cell phone manufacturers can eliminate the expense of developing device specific platforms and instead focus on developing usable, effective hardware. Perhaps we will see more phones that have better vertical functionality for specific industries, professions, etc. to take advantage of vertical specific software, or maybe we'll see great hardware come out that is flexible enough to adapt to different software. oh wait...that is the iPhone!

Unfortunately I do not have an iPhone...but I do accept gifts. :)

iPhone 2.0 is to iPhone 1.0 what The Wrath of Khan was to Star Trek The Motion Picture.

This product is not business oriented, unless the business world decides to adopt it as such it will be relegated to non-business related first adopters. It's fine to be trendy but you will never sell as much as a blackberry will and this is very much evidenced by the fact that Apple computers do not outsell Dell, a business related computer. Different niche, different community and obviously a smaller group than the business class.

Not everyone wants a phone to do the same things. I want to talk with it; have voice mail; that's it. I refuse to have call-waiting - I think it's about the rudest thing there is. Whoever I'm talking with is The Important One, and if I'm waiting for someone I consider more important, I cut the call short and call the less important person after The Big One. But then, I'm a happy dinosaur about such things. I get excited about different bells & whistles than other people do. And of course, "never" is a long time - maybe Apple's consumer base doesn't care about the same things as other companys', hmm?

No matter which side of the technological aisle you're from, by now everyone should have learned this: when you are talking about Apple or Microsoft, you are talking about the Kings of Tenacity. Never underestimate either of them and, above all, never say never.^^ The strides Apple has been making are undeniable and no one is doing anything significant enough to stop them in their tracks. No matter how you look at it, Apple IS and will continue to be a MAJOR player in its key markets. Get used to it.

Apple is an Elitist company with Elitist prices. It was the PC platform that has driven the push behind innovation in the tech market and given us the Internet and Technology of today. Apple has just rode on the coattails of this event, they started with the right idea but somehow lost their soul early on.

The iPhone is more of a fashion statement than a brekthrough. Pocket PC phones have been around for many years and had functionality (back then) that iPhone's STILL do not have.

IMHO Apple needs to either "open" up their approach or continue to rely solely on "bling" for their sales.

Go ahead and "flame" away to my post Apple lovers!!! But make sure you take your gloves off first to type on your iPhones...

The iPhone is beautiful and functional art. Anyone who complains about it not living up to their standards clearly is not a person who enjoys our first real pocket computer. I do not own one but am only days away after seeing them with many coworkers. Way to go Apple.