Rivals see iPhone as the one to beat in hardware, software, marketing

Computerworld - SAN FRANCISCO -- More than a year after arriving on the mobile/wireless scene, Apple Inc.'s iPhone remains the "it" phone -- the one to beat and the one companies in the mobile device industry compare themselves to.

At this week's CTIA show here, where hundreds of companies that build devices and applications or offer network services are convening, corporate leaders keep pointing out iPhone weaknesses -- from networks issues to lesser video capabilities. But they also have to keep answering why their devices can't be as special as the iPhone or its touch interface, slew of applications and functions.

They're even jealous about how it is being marketed so successfully.

Bill Plummer, vice president of go-to-market strategies for North America at Nokia Corp., took questions from reporters and analysts about new Nokia Ovi wireless services, stressing how dozens of Nokia devices have video-sharing capabilities beyond the reach of the iPhone. When a member of the press praised the video capabilities of the Nokia devices, Plummer promptly repeated, verbatim, the comments for all to hear.

Even for Nokia, the world's largest manufacturer of cell phones with devices now in use by 1 billion people, the iPhone is the current -- and continuing -- basis for comparison.

At a panel discussion sponsored by Handango Inc., which provides software for just about every other wireless device on the market except the iPhone, several industry leaders grappled with why Apple's device has done so well. It is a mixture of Apple CEO Steve Jobs' marketing "mojo," the success of its App Store, integrated functionality and more, the group agreed.

Mikael Nerde, head of the accessory and developer program at Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, recalled the time 10 years ago when Ericsson -- then a separate company -- called its devices "terminals," a term too boring to last for long. Although the iPhone now competes in the "smart phone" market, Nerde argued that it has symbolically jumped a notch above that group. "All cell phones are smart today anyway," he said.