Why the competition isn't

Business Week has an article about why it's the software, stupid, in the wireless telephone market: "The most immediate impact of the iPhone has been on hardware design, encouraging a rash of imitators with big touchscreens. That includes the new Samsung Instinct, which Sprint Nextel has been billing as an iPhone killer. Even Research In Motion, whose executives have ridiculed the iPhone's lack of a physical keyboard, is rumored to be developing a touch-based BlackBerry. Such efforts largely miss the point. Certainly, the beautiful hardware design adds tremendously to the emotional appeal of Apple products. But it's the software that makes the iPhone stand out from the pack of wannabes."
"Despite its strong multimedia capabilities, the Instinct offers little more than the typical cell phone, and nothing near the iPhone's computerlike capabilities. Yes, good hardware design is critical. But in the end, it's the software that really makes the difference."

Rico says Apple always said they only got five percent, but it was the smartest (or best, depending) five percent. In the telephone game, it looks like a lot of people are smarter... (And Rico wants the white one.)

In a review in Information Week, Eric Zeman deconstructs the Instinct, and has this to say: "It's not as simple or easy to use as you-know-what." We, of course, know what you-know-what is, don't we?