iPhone V.S. The other Smart Phones

While we are all waiting for the iPhone 3.1.1 bug-fix update, not to mention iPhone 3.2 betas to start dropping, it looks like the competition is getting their OS on this week:

• Palm webOS 1.2 didn’t re-enable the iTunes hack, but did bring some nifty new features including Amazon MP3 downloads over 3G, the foundations for paid apps in the App Catalog, improved cut and paste, and much more.
• Android 1.6 Donut is expected to hit soon as well. A new Android Market is coming with it, but not multi-touch — at least not yet.
• BlackBerry OS 5.0 still doesn’t seem to be official, but it’s speculated features are leaking out all over the place . Though it still doesn’t seem to integrate a real browser yet, despite what the commercials say…
• Windows Mobile 6.5 might be on Windows Phones by 2010, though even Ballmer is finally admitting Windows Mobile 7 should have been out this year.

What does that mean for the iPhone? Even if RIM looks locked in a stalemate, Palm and Microsoft appear to have up-hill battles but are re-gaining their traction, and Android is still slowly gaining steam, so Apple can’t afford to coast. A new OS from RIM, a Palm-style rebirth from Microsoft, and webOS and Android gaining marketshare are all possibilities. Many of these updates have interesting new features. I am sure Apple is ready with their own arsenal of new features and updates.

-Steve

[iphoneblog]