KEY POINTS:
With a frenzy of iPhone deal-making over the last couple of weeks, Apple's popular mobile phone will soon be coming to an additional 26 countries, spread from Latin America all the way down to little ol' New Zealand.
But what of the competition? With nearly a year to pour over the iPhone and get their engineers and designers working to come up with something better, what has been produced?
Well so far, we've seen some noble attempts to come up with a credible rival - the HTC Touch (sold as Okta Touch by Telecom) is a fairly decent phone.
The LG Prada wasn't bad, but it fell down in the user interface department. Blackberry charged on with the Curve and the Pearl, but neither of those really offer the functionality of the iPhone - though they are good at what they're designed to do - get push email to you in as efficient a way as is possible.
But as Apple looks set to release its 3G iPhone, possibly with the much-rumoured GPS and iControl capability thrown in, the attention has shifted to the rival gadgets that will form the first line of defence against iPhone version 2. Here are some of the options getting attention in the blogosphere at the moment:
HTC TOUCH DIAMOND
The Diamond looks pretty impressive. It's based on Windows Mobile 6.1, so don't expect any radical operating system overhaul, though the user interface that overlies Windows and which received an overhaul with the HTC Touch, seems to have been further improved.
It's smaller than the iPhone, but packs in many features - high-speed mobile broadband access and a 3.2 megapixel camera among them.
The Diamond is built with mobile web-surfing in mind, hence the built-in Wi-Fi access, high-resolution glass screen and zooming technology that lets you navigate web pages easily. There's a 3D element to the user interface, seemingly inspired by the graphical media manager that comes with the iPhone. HTC certainly seems to have done some clever things with the Diamond, but has it the appeal to rival the iPhone?
I think it will be popular with in the traditional smartphone segment but I'm not sure if it has the cross-over appeal to go big in the consumer market the way the iPhone has. Pricing, battery life and effectiveness of user interface will be crucial.
iPhone killing potential: 6/10 (10 being good)
BLACKBERRY BOLD
I've never really viewed the iPhone as a competitor to the BlackBerry, but it has to be said, the releases of the iPhone SDK and the support for Microsoft Exchange makes the iPhone a potential BlackBerry replacement for many corporate users. It's hard to beat the BlackBerry for quick access to email and good battery life and the BlackBerry Bold looks set to continue the theme.
There are plenty of upgrades here, from the look and style of the device to beefed up multimedia functions - a nod to the iPhone's success as a multimedia device. It now syncs with iTunes and has stereo speakers. It supports HSDPA so has an edge on the iPhone in the US at the moment in terms of mobile broadband connection speeds. But the Bold (also known as the BlackBerry 9000) is being exclusively released there by AT&T which also has the exclusive rights to the iPhone. That suggests AT&T sees minimal overlap between the iPhone and the Bold. I'd have to agree.
iPhone killing potential: 5/10
PHILIPS XENIUM
Philips pulled out of the New Zealand mobile market years ago but has been chipping away in markets overseas with generally low cost mobile phones. Little has been revealed about the Xenium, but it is clear that the phone will have a touch screen.
Photos of its suggest the design has been influenced by the iPhone and even the user interface of the Sony PS3 and PSP gaming consoles. Details about the operating system are sketchy.
It is tipped to support HSDPA and Wi-Fi and have extensive multimedia functions. Philips has huge reach in the consumer electronics market and here's an opportunity to offer a true consumer-orientated music phone which is nice to use. But lets face it, Philips has never made much of an impact in the mobile market. Will rely on fantastic user-interface design, clever marketing and leveraging of the Philips brand.
iPhone killing potential: 4/10
LG SECRET
LG has had some hits in the past few years, the Chocolate being the most obvious one, but the Prada failed to really excite once people got past its touch screen and slender profile. The Secret is a slider phone that keeps a keyboard in place, which will placate a large part of the market that doesn't want to rely solely on a touch screen.
There are also touch elements to the screen apparently. As usual, its choc-full of features - 3G (HSDPA) and Wi-Fi, a decent multimedia player with DivX support and video camera supporting shooting at up to 120 frames per second - just like its cousin the Viewty.
There's a five megapixel camera thrown in too. Looks very promising, especially as it's tipped to be priced lower than the Viewty. LG has real momentum in the mobile market now, this could be the phone that fixes all the faults of its predecessors and makes some inroads against the iPhone.
iPhone killing potential: 7/10
SAMSUNG INSTINCT and GLIDE
Samsung's Instinct handset is being sold through Sprint in the US while the Glyde, a compact, touch screen phone with fold-out QWERTY keyboard is also getting a run through Verizon.
First to the Instinct - which is the closest thing to the iPhone we've seen yet. The user interface looks similar and the phone has a touch screen allowing haptic feedback and can be switched from landscape to profile view.
It has several things the current iPhone doesn't - mobile broadband access and turn-by-turn GPS navigation. A well featured mobile that may not have the power of the iPhone when it comes to applications but appears to do most things a mobile user requires.
The Glyde is aimed at those sending a lot of text messages or emails and has 8GB of internal memory for storing music and videos.
Both nice phones, but does the Instinct come a little too close to the iPhone in terms of design? With an estimated price of US$199 when it goes on sale next month, the Instinct could be the best-priced alternative on the market, but suffers from a lack of internal memory - you need to use a MicroSD card to get the gigabytes of storage the iPhone offers built-in.
iPhone killing potential: Instinct 7/10, Glyde 6/10
Nokia's hopefuls - The Nokia Tube. Not much detail on the Tube next, but it will be Nokia's first real foray into touch screen interfaces for handsets. Nokia is also attempting a radical reinvention of the mobile phone with the Morph designed to be worn on the wrist like a watch. That's too far out to even speculate about.
