When the first rumors began circulating about Apple secretly working on a phone version of the most popular mp3 player it sent many of the largest cellphone manufacturers scurrying off to the drawing board to come up with what would be able to compete with what would undoubtedly become the latest trend setting cellphone. Unfortunately at that point nobody had any idea what the iPhone would be capable of so they were left to work on pure hypotheses. Nokia released an updated version of its popular N95 with an 8GB hard drive, Samsung came out with a new and improved BlackJack, Motorola went with a new Sidekick, and Sony Ericsson released the P1. All of these devices featured some significant improvements over anything that was available today on the market but unfortunately for them it wasn’t enough to stop the storm that was coming. When the iPhone was officially released it created a buzz on par with the original release of the iPod. The internet forums were ablaze with discussion threads, analysts were predicting millions of sales within the first few days, and the leading cellphone manufacturers were left banging their heads against the wall.
Over a year has passed since the original iPhone was released and since then we have seen a several iPhone imitators and while the majority of them crashed and burned there were a few that seemingly flew under the radar yet managed to make a slight dent in the iPhone’s sales. Perhaps the most significant contender to supersede the iPhone was the HTC Touch. On paper the Touch was far superior to the iPhone, filling in the holes that Apple had failed to fill such as a high resolution camera, 3G functionality and an expansion slot for additional memory. The main reason the HTC Touch failed to surpass the iPhone was due to its relatively unknown brand name to the general public.Lesson lived and learned HTC was quick to capitalize on the Touch’s success and is hard at work to design the next iPhone killer. It’s aptly called the HTC Touch Diamond. Thinner, shorter, and lighter than the iPhone the Touch Diamond also boasts a higher resolution touch screen, a faster processor, a higher resolution 3.15mp camera as wel as 3G HSDPA capabilities. Whether it can win over loyal iPhone fans remains to be seen.
RIM the maker of the Blackberry which has a iron grip on the business market is also trying to expand its reach over to the consumer market with the upcoming Blackberry bold though the lack of a touchscreen does not make it a potential iPhone superseder.
LG which won over audiences with its ultra-stylish Chocolate phone will be releasing an updated version which will include a fully functional touch screen and a 5mp camera. With the impeding release of the next iPhone it may seem highly improbable that anyone will be able
to match the iPhone’s stellar success although it still remains to be seen.
