iPhone primed to trump rivals in audience appeal

[AppleInsider]

Analysts at Bank of America and Morgan Stanley say Apple is poised to snap up marketshare from competing smartphone producers, even though some segments, as always, would prove tough to crack.

Research notes from the financial institutions, published late this week, told investors that the iPhone is entering a market where many of its audience's tastes (and competitors' weaknesses) would play into its creator's hands.

Ironically, much of this support came after a conversation held by Bank of America's Keith Bachman with Apple's strongest opponent, Nokia. Executives from the Scandinavian company painted an optimistic picture for the high-end phone business, predicting that sales would blossom from 90 million phones sold worldwide in 2006 to over 250 million by 2008.

The Finnish cellphone maker went on to note that today's environment is already very friendly to media-wise phones from its own line -- and, Bachman added, the iPhone. Roughly 60 percent of premium phones are used for music on a regular basis, Nokia estimated. Some owners are even dependent on their handsets to such a degree that just under half of the segment's users rely on the devices as their only cameras.

And while Nokia's devices were best positioned to compete with those from Apple, the latter could brag of advantages its rivals simply couldn't offer. No current phone designer has the same kind of devoted fan base, the Bank of America researcher said. Neither could they claim iTunes' grip on existing customers nor the same skill with creating a user interface.

Other cellphone heavyweights are at considerably greater risk, said a similarly-voiced investor note from Morgan Stanley's Katheryn Huberty.

While some phone makers are shielded from the potential damage of Cupertino's initial onslaught, particularly RIM and its work-oriented BlackBerry line, others are especially vulnerable. Those devices whose Internet or media features appealed to the iPhone's target audience, but yet weren't crucial to a corporate environment, were the most likely to be dropped in favor of the Apple model.

Palm's Treo phones may be at the greatest risk of all, Huberty said. Beyond sharing features and prices, Palm is also in the unfortunate position of having a disproportionately large number of Apple enthusiasts in its midst. Treo owners are twice as likely to own an iPod or Mac, according to a Morgan Stanley survey, and are much more likely to consider iPhones regardless of their existing Apple product ownership.

Motorola, which helped Apple experiment with music phones through the ROKR, is now a virtual non-factor thanks to the poor reception of its music efforts and an emphasis on less expensive phones.

Still, both Huberty and her equivalent at Bank of America cautioned shareholders that the iPhone wouldn't have automatic control of the market. Price was a particularly familiar sore point, with the two experts independently concluding that Apple needs to quickly expand its lineup with phones under the $499 mark if it wants to grow outside of its soon-to-be-established niche.

Bachman also noted that Nokia's assessment of the market's hardware preferences would have Apple falling just short of the ideal. The "sweet spot" for camera phones is between 3 and 5 megapixels versus the iPhone's 2-megapixel unit, Nokia claimed. A lack of 3G wireless could also hinder the California-based company's success outside of North America, Bachman wrote.

With most of these potential problems likely to be solved by 2008, however, the two analysts were convinced that Apple could spark a long-term interest in its pioneering phone over the long run.

"We believe there is [a] high likelihood the iPhone portfolio expands in the next 12+ months, generating additional demand," said Huberty.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[kresh]

All iPhone, all the time.

[physguy]

Finally. Someone who 'Gets It'.

[JeffDM]

Palm's Treo phones may be at the greatest risk of all, Huberty said. Beyond sharing features and prices,

It really depends on what they mean. The SRP might be pretty close, but after discounts and subsidies, the 700wx and 700p are both $250 out the door from my carrier. It's kind of weasely to compare a Treo's SRP with Apple's prices, which might be post-subsidy. Whether Apple's price is post- or pre-subsidy (with with bonus service) has not been properly clarified and as such, hard to know if the comparison is valid. As for features, it's clear that the feature sets are different, I'm not sure they really share the same target market.

[Zandros]

And no mention of SonyEricsson as usual... you know, everything isn't America.

Motorola sucks anyway, they're hardly a competitor.

[anantksundaram]

Amongst all this "news" that analysts seem to be generating lately as Ai correspondents, where's Mr. Wu? I miss him.

[mbaynham]

zzzzz

[Ireland]

The iPhone will sell for lots of reasons, but it'll sell mostly for one main reason. Ease of use, ease of use, ease of use and ease of use.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by Ireland

The iPhone will sell for lots of reasons, but it'll sell mostly for one main reason. Ease of use, ease of use, ease of use and ease of use.

I think that statement is probably more Microsoft-like than you let on. Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

I think that statement is probably more Microsoft-like than you let on. Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!

huh...

[jbelkin]

What are the best selling apps for other PDA's - calendars, word processors, notes, address books, etc, etc ...

That's because the included apps are so minimal or useless - why would you need to replace Apple apps on the iphone?

You even have evidence on the ipod there's "closed" and then there's CLOSED. You have hundreds of additional add-ons you can download and run on it from transit maps to restaurant menus to games.

You can't just randomly repeat things without thinking it through.

It's like the people who are sure they'll hate the touchscreen - just because they used one before, for now and all eternity - all touchscreens are bad. Did they feel the same way about the opposite sex at 7 also?

If you're happy with your PDA and the 5 calendar apps you bought plus the 1-lb keyboard attachment - great - enjoy that. We're moving to the next gen.

[nagromme]

"Sweet spot" for camera phones is 3-5 MP? No thanks. Are these "hardware preferences" that the market has for 3-5 MP actualy sales trends? Or someone checking a box on a questionnaire, "would you rather have 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 MP?" I have to wonder, given that an Apple competitor is the source of that statement

In my Googling, other smartphones, and popular phones like the RAZR, have 640x480 (.3 MP) up to about 1 MP. Unless you're printing posters, 5 MP doesn't do much but waste storage--which is NOT what you want on a phone. If ever there was a reason to trade pixel area for capacity (and portability) a phone is it.

2MP, like the iPhone, is 1600x1200. That's not at all bad. I don't know how much more than that I'd want to store... and I don't know how much space in the device I want to devote to optics good enough to justify more than that anyway. (High MP with poor optics? No thanks--I accept that superslim can't match the quality of a full size camera. If the phone's optics won't make a GOOD 5 MP image, then I'll stick with fewer pixels and not waste data on blurriness.)

My current (non-phone) cam is 3.0 MP and I honestly wouldn't want more 99% of the time: those are already huge images. At a certain point--for most users (not pros, not poster artists) Megapixels seems more like a buzzword that a real measure of quality.

[crees!]

More like Bank of Amigo

[Wally]

Originally Posted by nagromme

"Sweet spot" for camera phones is 3-5 MP? No thanks.

I thought the same thing when reading the article.... who needs a 5mp camera in their phone? It might sound cool... but mp are part of the picture quality equation. At 5mp I want a good lense to go with that... I could see myself using the iPhone's camera to take "quick and dirty" snapshots for design inspiration purposes... but I'm not planning on enlarging these shots to hang over the mantle... 5mp is a waste...

[jasonfj]

Absolutely right nagromme. I'm a tv commercials director and designer, and even professionally I usually set my Canon Ixus to 2MP for snapshots. If I'm shooting for print I use my SLR, as you say small optics do high MP counts no justice.

I was kind of disappointed at first when I heard 2MP, but in retrospect it's more than enough for that sort of device. When friends ask me what to look for in a compact camera, I tell them they're wasting their time paying for anything more than 2 or 3MP, cos they're never going to use it.

eg. http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm

[Caribou Killa]

Originally Posted by crees!

More like Bank of Amigo

yes becuase amigo really means america in spanish... We all know what your getting at and what you want to talk about but take those politics somewhere else

[Obelix]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Bachman also noted that Nokia's assessment of the market's hardware preferences would have Apple falling just short of the ideal. The "sweet spot" for camera phones is between 3 and 5 megapixels versus the iPhone's 2-megapixel unit, Nokia claimed.

Hogwash.

Camera phones are of such low quality, that a 5MP sensor merely magnifies the flaws of a 2MP sensor. Such cameras are little more useful than disposable film cameras for drunken parties, insurance claims, remind the user of what that coat in the store looked like, or to record instances of police brutality.

The only significant hardware flaw of the iPhone is lack of 3G, which anyway will probably come only six months after the initial launch in June. Lock out of 3rd party software can be undone with an OS upgrade, prices can be changed,

[gregmightdothat]

Originally Posted by crees!

More like Bank of Amigo

Bank of Amerigo Vespucci?

[gregmightdothat]

Originally Posted by Obelix

Camera phones are of such low quality, that a 5MP sensor merely magnifies the flaws of a 2MP sensor. Such cameras are little more useful than disposable film cameras for drunken parties, insurance claims, remind the user of what that coat in the store looked like, or to record instances of police brutality.

You forgot happy slapping.

[BlackSummerNight]

Best "selling apps"? Most smartphone come preloaded with these. I've used a touchsreen phone, and it's the main reason I'm gettig a iPhone, I love them.

The great thing about smartphones, are all the apps available. I'd have to say that I have my MPX220 loaded with they, and most are great, others, not so much. Go visit www.handango, and you'll see why people love having a "open" system for smartphones.

Originally Posted by jbelkin

What are the best selling apps for other PDA's - calendars, word processors, notes, address books, etc, etc ...

That's because the included apps are so minimal or useless - why would you need to replace Apple apps on the iphone?

You even have evidence on the ipod there's "closed" and then there's CLOSED. You have hundreds of additional add-ons you can download and run on it from transit maps to restaurant menus to games.

You can't just randomly repeat things without thinking it through.

It's like the people who are sure they'll hate the touchscreen - just because they used one before, for now and all eternity - all touchscreens are bad. Did they feel the same way about the opposite sex at 7 also?

If you're happy with your PDA and the 5 calendar apps you bought plus the 1-lb keyboard attachment - great - enjoy that. We're moving to the next gen.

[Wally]

Originally Posted by crees!

More like Bank of Amigo

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by Wally

I thought the same thing when reading the article.... who needs a 5mp camera in their phone? It might sound cool... but mp are part of the picture quality equation. At 5mp I want a good lense to go with that... I could see myself using the iPhone's camera to take "quick and dirty" snapshots for design inspiration purposes... but I'm not planning on enlarging these shots to hang over the mantle... 5mp is a waste...

That's really the problem. I think that generally, the people that want big megapixels are the ones that don't really understand that the limitations are abundant with such a tiny camera. I'm really impressed that the resulting picture is recognizable. If you take a look at the threads where people submit pictures, it's easy to see that a given image was from a phone or some other device with such a tiny camera, and it has nothing to do with the number of pixels.

[dkrieb]

iPhone Bitch

[nagromme]

Re closed vs. open iPhone: there are two different approaches, and BOTH have value:

1. Make a PLATFORM and let any developer dream up new apps and grow the platform. I think we can all support that! The benefits are obvious.

2. Make an APPLIANCE and allow only limited, controlled, tested expansion of that appliance by developers.

#2 would suck for a computer, but it has real value for a PHONE--even one that goes beyond the usual definition.

#2 means your phone just works--not like a Mac (usually) "just works" but like an iPod "just works." (Remember, when some 3rd party app crashes, even if it harms nothing else, it's still your iPhone failing on you.)

#2 means the ease-of-use and consistency from one app to another is NEVER damaged.

#2 means when Apple wants to improve the OS or release a new device, their hands aren't tied (and quality control hampered) by having to worry about breaking a million 3rd-party apps. (Apple could say, "we don't care what 3rd party apps break, that's their funeral," but that's a poor customer experince.)

#2 means you have a rock-solid appliance, but not a portable computer platform.

I won't criticize anyone who prefers #1. It's fun and exciting and the sky is the limit. I might even choose #1 myself.

But I also can't criticize apple for choosing #2. It does have real benefits--and I think those benefits would serve most users (non "power-users"/hackers/customizers) better than #1.

I also think #2 would generate better reviews and higher sales, even if it makes a small number of people parrot the "Apple is closed" cry--often repeated, seldom a justified complaint.

Both DO have benefits. Neither is "wrong." The ideal might be #2 for the iPhone... and then #1 for an ultracompact Mac computing device we have yet to see....

[gregmightdothat]

nagromme, excellently put!

[suhail]

Without #1… I can't have MAME!!!

[nvidia2008]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

Amongst all this "news" that analysts seem to be generating lately as Ai correspondents, where's Mr. Wu? I miss him.

I miss him too. But all these other "analysts" are doing a lot of the work for him anyway. Summary of all this "analyst" stuff: BUY APPLE SO THE STOCK WILL GO UP TO $110, $120 and WE CAN ALL make lots of money.

The only thing is that luckily for these "analysts" Apple should do well anyway. Gooooooo AAPL ...!!
Disclosure: my brother owns AAPL bought at $65 approx.

[nvidia2008]

Originally Posted by nagromme

Re closed vs. open iPhone: there are two different approaches, and BOTH have value:

1. Make a PLATFORM and let any developer dream up new apps and grow the platform. I think we can all support that! The benefits are obvious.

2. Make an APPLIANCE and allow only limited, controlled, tested expansion of that appliance by developers.

#2 would suck for a computer, but it has real value for a PHONE--even one that goes beyond the usual definition.

#2 means your phone just works--not like a Mac (usually) "just works" but like an iPod "just works." (Remember, when some 3rd party app crashes, even if it harms nothing else, it's still your iPhone failing on you.)

#2 means the ease-of-use and consistency from one app to another is NEVER damaged.

#2 means when Apple wants to improve the OS or release a new device, their hands aren't tied (and quality control hampered) by having to worry about breaking a million 3rd-party apps. (Apple could say, "we don't care what 3rd party apps break, that's their funeral," but that's a poor customer experince.)

#2 means you have a rock-solid appliance, but not a portable computer platform.

I won't criticize anyone who prefers #1. It's fun and exciting and the sky is the limit. I might even choose #1 myself.

But I also can't criticize apple for choosing #2. It does have real benefits--and I think those benefits would serve most users (non "power-users"/hackers/customizers) better than #1.

I also think #2 would generate better reviews and higher sales, even if it makes a small number of people parrot the "Apple is closed" cry--often repeated, seldom a justified complaint.

Both DO have benefits. Neither is "wrong." The ideal might be #2 for the iPhone... and then #1 for an ultracompact Mac computing device we have yet to see....

Hear hear, excellent. #2 is Apple, Inc.'s main strategy. No point opening it up fully because then it "denigrates" into just another PDA/Smartphone/Etc. Controlled rigorously tested third party development. 2nd half of 2007, we'll have the "made for iPhone" program start to come on. Hackers will certainly push (and achieve) #1 but for the most part #2 is the way to fly.

Apple's goal is to revolutionize what we think of the phone. It becomes a personal communicator and portable organizer. And plays music and videos too. It's a revolution. The next revolution after the iPod. Apple "gets it". This hype has to be realised, but remember iSteve's 1% of 1+ billion phones sold in 2008. That's 10 million units in 2008. Highly conservative, they could move potentially 20 million units in 2008.

The iPod was the marketshare bone-crushing juggernaut. But the Mac, and iPhone, needs to be understandably, viewed in the light of growth and sustainable continued gains in profit for Apple,Inc. iPhone is the third growth engine that while unit sales will lag behind iPod unit sales, and below iPhone Mac unit sales, overall, we are seeing the Apple, Inc. ecosystem thrive.

Side note: Given mid-April announcement at NAB, I don't anticipate Leopard to be released by then. Probably mid-May, alongside some new models. WWDC though... Hmm.. maybe Leopard release and full demo then, not May. Maybe before mid-April Mac Mini bump to Core2Duo, small other bumps.

Timeline review:
Anytime from March-April-May-June :: small bumps to models eg. MacMini Core2Duo.
March: AppleTV shipping, continue Airport Extreme 802.11N rollout.
April: mid-April NAB FinalCutPro, Motion, DVDStudioPro, possible 8coreMacPro announced.
April: early April, AAPL Jan-March 2007 (FY07 Q2) results.
May: Maybe some iPod updates, no Video touchscreen iPod until iPhone more in swing.
May: Adobe Universal CS3 release and shipping in full swing*
June: WWDC: full demo and shipping releae announced for Leopard Mac OS X 10.5.
Some new Mac models to sweeten the Leopard release.

*This suggests that mid-April announcement is a prep for Pro machine updates for mass sales in the
pro creative [graphic/ web design] scene, on top of broadcast market. For those waiting in the wings.
No Leopard release here because the pros want to jump on 10.4.8/ 10.4.9 real stable platform when upgrading.
So pro Mac updates will be for MacPro Quad, MacPro 8Core, MacBookPro bumps, maybe MacBook 15.4".

[NOFEER]

as far as apps, why can't apple bring in the apps like to read pdf, .doc files etc remember the amount of apps needed or most used is much much smaller than in the computer world, apple could handle this themselves so the ui is consistant or require strick ui i feel much of this app question will be answered by close alies to apple or apple themselves by or soon after june. when do consumers buy phones and when do business users buy phones. i think their will be two stages one in june then another for the christmas buying season.
i also predict that before christmas it will be 3g AND twice the memory with growing app choices.

[nagromme]

Absolutely, Apple can and should keep developing apps (and/or having other companies do so--like the iPod games by EA). And they will: Jobs touted the ability of the iPhone to gain new features. (In fact, the phone will gain some features when it ships that we haven't yet seen.)

PDF reading is already there, I seem to recall. Hopefully .doc (and .docx?) will be there too.

I also really hope for Flash playback--that seems to be a "maybe" officially, but even Apple.com is best viewed with Flash enabled.

[nvidia2008]

Certainly the word "desktop-class" was used very frequently. PDF, Office document viewers, editors(?)... There are some interesting possibilities. But Apple will keep it very focused upon launched not to try too many apps at first.

[Johnny Mozzarella]

I believe there is another factor that will make the iPhone more popular than it's competitors...
Accessories! Accessories! Accessories!

I LOVE THIS COMPANY!

[Denton]

Originally Posted by NOFEER

as far as apps, why can't apple bring in the apps like to read pdf, .doc files etc remember the amount of apps needed or most used is much much smaller than in the computer world, apple could handle this themselves so the ui is consistant or require strick ui i feel much of this app question will be answered by close alies to apple or apple themselves by or soon after june. when do consumers buy phones and when do business users buy phones. i think their will be two stages one in june then another for the christmas buying season.
i also predict that before christmas it will be 3g AND twice the memory with growing app choices.

Do you really believe that the iPhone will not be able to read a variety of documents (particularly pdf, doc, xls) on release simply because this capability was not mentioned in the Macworld keynote? Why don't you just wait to see what features the iPhone has that didn't make the short-list of priorities for the keynote demo? Your argument is obviously fallacious: why do people keep peddling this nonsense?

[ecking]

Originally Posted by nagromme

"Sweet spot" for camera phones is 3-5 MP? No thanks. Are these "hardware preferences" that the market has for 3-5 MP actualy sales trends? Or someone checking a box on a questionnaire, "would you rather have 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 MP?" I have to wonder, given that an Apple competitor is the source of that statement

In my Googling, other smartphones, and popular phones like the RAZR, have 640x480 (.3 MP) up to about 1 MP. Unless you're printing posters, 5 MP doesn't do much but waste storage--which is NOT what you want on a phone. If ever there was a reason to trade pixel area for capacity (and portability) a phone is it.

2MP, like the iPhone, is 1600x1200. That's not at all bad.

Yeah but most people are tools and would be like "zomfg! iphone has 64 megapixel camera, hasselblad is teh doom!!1!one!1!"

[TBaggins]

And while Nokia's devices were best positioned to compete with those from Apple, the latter could brag of advantages its rivals simply couldn't offer. No current phone designer has the same kind of devoted fan base, the Bank of America researcher said.

Y'know, I'm a pretty big iPhone fan, but that part was utter gibberish. Mr. Analyst obviously has no clue.

There are LEGIONS of Nokia and Motorola fanboys out there. The cellphone market is over a BILLION people worldwide right now, and as the #1 and #2 phone makers, Nokia and Moto both can number their current customers in the hundreds of millions.

That's not to say that their fans can't be converted to the iPhone, and I believe a lot of them will be, but to say that the established competitors in the cellphone market do not have large and devoted fanbases is odd, at best.... when you sell a couple hundred million phones a year, if even 10% of your customers really like your product, you end up with a number right around the entire worldwide Mac installed base. Much more, actually, since the cellphone replacement cycle is closer to two years, so your customer base as either of those companies is closer to double that 'couple hundred' million.

So where are they getting these analyst guys from?

.

[aegisdesign]

Anyone who doesn't believe phone cameras can't be decent, hasn't used a Sony Ericsson K800i or a Nokia N73.

Anyone who doesn't believe phones can't make good iPod replacements hasn't used a recent Sony Ericsson Walkman phone.

It's into that market that Apple will be coming a year late with no 3G, no inbuilt flash and a so-so camera. Most of the high end Nokias also work as SIP phones now too. The software in the rest of the iPhone better be good other wise the iPhones "bragging of advantages its rivals simply couldn't offer" will sound quite comical.

The RDF is strong in this thread.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Denton

Do you really believe that the iPhone will not be able to read a variety of documents (particularly pdf, doc, xls) on release simply because this capability was not mentioned in the Macworld keynote? Why don't you just wait to see what features the iPhone has that didn't make the short-list of priorities for the keynote demo? Your argument is obviously fallacious: why do people keep peddling this nonsense?

Seeing how TextEdit and Safari can already read .DOC and .PDF files, respectively, I really don 't see how this won't be included.

Plus, I've been using Google Docs more and more lately as it contains only the simple features that I, and I assume most people, need to create .DOC files. With Google and Apple collaborating, I wonder if they are working on something--like the Google Maps that was demoed at MacWorld-- to create a simple and free editor/viewer for the iPhone.

[kaioslider]

Not enough hype or too much hype? I'm starting to believe the former, or maybe the market is just starting to realize how big the iPhone treat is, so maybe it's just right amount of hype. I recently read that AT&T anticipates that the iPhone will bring with it a sharp increase in new customers. Of course the inverse of that is a sharp decrease in competitor user base. One of those is Verizon, as a current Verizon customer who is frustrated with Verizon's standard practice of crippling their phones to force you to use their extra services plus use up your minutes, well, I'm looking forward to it. I expect there will be an initial surge, then a slow down. It all really depends on how the pricing with service plans workout. While Apple is certainly going to try and maximize profits from the gotta-have-it-early-adoptors, the other factor that may have been considers in the pricing is supply and demand. Clearly the more users Apple can get onboard as early as possible will help establish it's base, the more people see it, touch it, the cascading effect well bring in new users, lower prices would do that, but maybe too much too fast vastly outstripping supply, which would lead to Apple losing its control on pricing. So the higher price will both maximize profits and at as a supply control. The production of a product has a limit, you can produce this many and no more, pricing of a unit can be adjusted. So if supply exceeds demand, for instance, AT&T (and Apple), can quick adjust the price of the unit, say with a two year contract, to balance supply and demand, in a controlled manner. The opposite, too low a price, channels empty, prices increase, and the market controls the iPhone. While initially this might be seen as desirable, you may lose potential hold outs as they consider the coveted device unobtainable. The article makes a very good point about the iPod factor of the iPhone, it's a major variable given the install base. I think that if Apple only did an iPod with a cell phone feature, that along would have seen huge demand (at a lower price of course), but they didn't, they made it an almost everything device. Add GPS done with google maps down the road, well, it would be the everything device, minus the kitchen sink (could do a widget for that I suppose

[digitalclips]

Originally Posted by Ireland

The iPhone will sell for lots of reasons, but it'll sell mostly for one main reason. Ease of use, ease of use, ease of use and ease of use.

... and don't forget ease of use

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by TBaggins

Y'know, I'm a pretty big iPhone fan, but that part was utter gibberish. Mr. Analyst obviously has no clue.

There are LEGIONS of Nokia and Motorola fanboys out there. The cellphone market is over a BILLION people worldwide right now, and as the #1 and #2 phone makers, Nokia and Moto both can number their current customers in the hundreds of millions.

Fanboys and customers are two different things. Sure Nokia and the like have customers in the hundreds of millions, but most will stay with their current product and/or provider out of habit and convenience. The second group will switch on price, ease of switching and how well they can be convinced to do so. The third group are the technofiles and the must-have-the-newest-technology crowd and will gravitate to what they believe is the most advanced no matter who makes it.

Mac'rs on the other have a loyalty that is paramount to paranoia and consider it treasonis if one switched. A lot of us will buy everything as soon as Apple releases it. More wish they could. Most can't wait for the 'next' thing. I doubt that Nokia has such a following that they will disregard the competitor no matter how much better their product may appear to be as us Mac'rs will.

As the article stated, "No current phone designer has the same kind of devoted fan base." It doesn't say that it is smaller than Apples.

What is most interesting, is that all the analysts are in most part, in agreement. To them, the iPhone looks like a winner. A big winner. Sure they cautiously preface their releases, as well they should. Sure they haven't always been right. But if Apple does what it does best they are counting on making their clients a lot of money; as we are counting on telling a lot of our friends (and enemies), "I told you so." "Again!"