iPhone rivals look to cash in on iPhone 3G launch

They push their own smart phones as Apple focuses on phone apps

By Matt Hamblen

July 10, 2008 12:00 PM ET

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iPhone 3G

Computerworld - If the original iPhone really was the Jesus Phone, and Friday's launch of iPhone 3G is the Second Coming, what does that make the iPhone look-alikes recently launched or being launched by Apple Inc.'s competitors?

Would they be iPhone prophets? Or maybe iPhone disciples? Perhaps even iPhone splinter sects, for Heaven's sake?

Divine beliefs aside, there are a sizable number of cell phones and smart phones on the market that Apple competitors hope can challenge the new iPhone 3G, even if the vendors won't actually draw a direct comparison between their products and Apple's. These manufacturers have until now tended to focus on the use of a touch screens for input. But with iPhone 3G coming out, the new emphasis is on how some smart phones have long been able to access faster 3G wireless networks.

Sprint Nextel Corp., for example, has been particularly forward about promoting its new Instinct, which was developed with Samsung. Sprint noted that the Instinct started selling out at some stores shortly after its June 19 launch. And Best Buy Co., the Instinct's exclusive national retailer, yesterday declared the multimedia smart phone its best-selling handset of the past two years based on the first two weeks of sales.

On Friday, Palm Inc. plans to announce a new low price for an "electric blue" Centro being sold through AT&T Inc. along with both white and black models. The price will stay in effect until Sept. 20 and is timed to coincide with back-to-school sales. A Palm spokeswoman noted in an e-mail that Centros sold for use with Sprint and Verizon Wireless networks function on 3G networks, and that Palm has had 3G-capable smart phones "for years."

Palm noted that the Centro, which features a touch screen, is half the price of the iPhone 3G, is available in more colors and is supported by more carriers. (In the U.S., the iPhone 3G is available only from AT&T.)

The comparisons, implied or direct, by competitors to the iPhone started when the original Apple device was announced in early 2007. In addition to the Instinct and Centro, iPhone challengers include the LG Voyager, the Motorola Rokr E8 and Nokia's N95, although some of the features they offer vary widely from those of the iPhone, which passed its first anniversary two weeks ago.

There are other possible rivals set to hit the market later this year, including the BlackBerry Thunder and Nokia's reported iPhone beater, which is code-named Tube. Also potentially on the horizon are a number of devices based on the Android open platform.

Despite all the comparisons to the iPhone's hardware, the real news to arise from the Friday launch could be the opening of Apple's App Store, through which the company will distribute more than 550 different applications for free or nearly free. The applications vary from medical dictionaries to games and tools that provide access to news content, and the number of products being offered is expected to grow quickly.

Although competing phones already offer an array of applications for work and entertainment, the App Store has put an emphasis on very-low-cost tools -- including some unusual offerings, analysts and reviewers have noted.

One example: Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Melodis Corp. today announced a free music search application for the iPhone called Midomi Mobile. Expected to be available in the App Store on Friday, it's designed to allow a user to quickly find a favorite song by singing, humming, speaking or typing information about it into the iPhone. It even allows a user to hold the iPhone in front of a speaker playing recorded music to get information on the song being played.

Read more about macintoshes in Computerworld's Macintoshes Knowledge Center.

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