RBC on 2009 iPhone Rivals

A slew of new full touchscreen cellphones introduced at this week's Mobile World Congress could significantly impact Apple's competitiveness this year, a research note from RBC Capital Markets says today. Analyst Mike Abramsky notes that the sudden and relative abundance of devices in the iPhone's category will give Apple a more difficult environment than it has encountered in the past. While not necessarily expecting damage to iPhone sales, the researcher warns that there could be either "downshifts" in sales to challengers or else damage to profit margins if Apple feels compelled to more aggressively price any future iPhones.

Among the more direct competitors are HTC's Touch Diamond 2 and keyboard equivalent the Touch Pro 2, the Samsung Omnia HD and the LG Arena. In many cases, the devices often center on larger or higher resolution screens as well as custom interfaces on top of older operating systems like Symbian S60 or Windows Mobile.

Apple's own intended response is considered important but has received few direct clues. A new hardware string has hinted that the next iPhone will be a major revision, but little else in terms of hardware has surfaced aside from a purported shell leak that suggests at least 16GB of storage and a cosmetic change.

By Electronista Staff