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Excitement is hitting a new high in the runup to Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) Worldwide Developers Conference, to be held in San Francisco next week.
New challengers are threatening the iPhone, while Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) has revived its Zune MP3 player in a bid to take on the iPod touch.
Meanwhile, Apple's gaining strength in its run at the enterprise market.
Nokia vs. iPhone
As if competition from the Palm Pre, to be launched this week, wasn't enough, the iPhone now has to battle a new Nokia (NYSE: NOK) phone -- the N97.
First announced in December, the Nokia N97 offers up to 32 GB of storage and lets users download maps, games, music and videos from the Internet. It will be available later this month.
It uses HSPDA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), also called "3.5G," for faster data transfer. It also has a full QWERTY keyboard, a built-in compass, a built-in accelerometer and voice-guided drive navigation. The N97 also has the usual assortment of games and other accessories. It comes with a Facebook app that's similar to the one for the iPhone.
However, the Nokia N97 is pricey at US$699 (although you can get an unlocked version on Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) for $603). Worse it's associated with the ill-fated Ovi store, which crashed and burned when it was rolled out worldwide in the last week of May.
Palm Preens With Its Device
At the D: All Things Digital conference hosted last week by The Wall Street Journal, Palm showed off some of the new features of its webOS. These included Palm media sync, the integration of Twitter in universal search, and a beta version of its App Catalog.
Here's where it gets interesting: The media sync feature synchronizes seamlessly with iTunes, so users can transfer tunes organized on the Apple desktop app onto their Pres through a USB connection.
Through its App Catalog, Palm is launching an attack on the Apple App Store; the catalog will initially feature apps from AP News (Nasdaq: NWS), Citysearch, Fandango, Pandora and uLocate.
Size-wise, the App Catalog doesn't look to be an immediate threat -- Apple's App Store has more than 35,000 apps now. However, will the Pre's ability to synch with iTunes arouse Apple's wrath? Cupertino has heavy legal and technological guns in its arsenal, but Palm's Executive Chairman Jon Rubinstein does not appear concerned.
Since Rubinstein came from Apple, does he know something nobody else does? Or are he and other Palm high-ups about to step in a big puddle of hubris?
Apps a Growing Business
For Apple, the $22 million to $53 million it makes from apps constitutes chump change when compared to the $5.5 billion it raked in through deferred revenues from iPhone and Apple TV sales in the second quarter.
Still, that's a healthy chunk of dough, and Apple's competitors are now ramping up their efforts to reap profits by pursuing similar paths.
Nokia has its Ovi Store, BlackBerry has an app shop, and the Android platform is in on the act. Even carriers are trying to make headway -- Verizon rolled out its Mobile Web Games and Apps Store April 2 at CTIA Wireless 2009.
These are just nibbles at the overall market for apps, which is clearly dominated now by Apple. If there are enough nibblers, however, they could pose a problem, so Apple would be wise not to get complacent.
Does Zune Count?
Though the iPhone has riveted everyone's attention, Apple continues to ride high on the success of the iPod. That has sparked a challenge from Microsoft, which last week unveiled its Zune HD MP3 player with a variety of new features, including an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screen.
In addition to revamping the MP3 player, Microsoft is taking a page from Apple's book, signing up automobile makers to pre-install Zune docks in their new vehicles, something car makers have been doing for years with iPod docks. Here's the problem, though: Those automakers include GM and Ford (the others are Korean car makers Hyundai and Kia).
GM and Ford? Aren't they dying? "It takes four years from the time automakers decide something gets into a car to the time it actually is in the car," explained Brian Seitz, group marketing manager at Zune.
"Our engineers have been working on getting native Zune support in automobiles, both from factories and the aftermarket," he told MacNewsWorld. "Ford and GM will still be around."
The iPhone in the Enterprise
The growing popularity of the iPhone has pushed it into enterprise through the back door -- workers buy them for themselves with personal funds but want them to integrate with enterprise IT systems. This has caused many headaches for IT security admins.
In response, the Center for Internet Security (CIS) has issued benchmarks for the iPhone intended to help enterprise IT use the device's security features to maintain data sanctity.
"There was a lot of research on iPhone forensics among our members, so we invited them to help develop the guide," Blake Frantz, chief technology officer at CIS, told MacNewsWorld.
CIS is a not-for-profit organization with more than 150 members from the business, government, education and security communities. It helps develop security guidelines through a community process.
Will Apple live through this period of turbulence? Surely.
Will it be able to fight off the competition? Hard to say, but it's going to be an interesting ride.
