Now that companies have got tired of announcing iPod-Killers, iPhone-Killers are very much in. Every major phone manufacturer has something to offer here.
LG, in fact, had announced an uncannily similar phone, LG KE850 even before Steve God Jobs announced iPhone in the last Stevenote. (Digression – ever heard of the Reality Distortion Field?) So, an iPhone killer was planned even before iPhone was announced. LG has almost been psychic in this. The two phones look so similar in the sample shots, that they seem to have been designed by the same people.
Microsoft of course has not been sitting idly through the iPhone hype and is all set to convert it’s (unsuccessful) iPod-Killer, Zune to it’s iPhone-Killer, Zune Phone. CrunchGear reports that the device could actually be available in May – a month before iPhone!
Samsung is not to be left behind. It will show off its iPhone killer, unimaginatively named Ultra Smart F700, at next week’s 3GSM World Conference in Barcelona, Spain. However, it’s not solely touchscreen-based, and has a pull-down qwerty keyboard, and 3G which is conspicuously absent from the iPhone.
Nokia’s very own iPhone-killer, according to PC Pro, is it’s internet tablet, N800. However, the catch is that it’s not exactly a phone. It is primarily meant to browse the internet through WLAN, and does not come with GSM, or 3G connectivity. So, if you wanna make calls, you are limited to VoIP.
There have also been rumors about Google and Samsung teaming up to create Google Switch, another iPhone-Killer. The pictures of the device, however, have a distinct Photoshopped feel, and not many people are buying the rumors.
The best thing that can happen for a new phone is to be touted as an iPhone-Killer. Like FIC Neo 1973, based on OpenMoko Linux. Indeed, here is an explicit comparison of Neo and iPhone.
A picture of Meizu M8, an Oriental look-alike of iPhone is getting it’s share of hype on gadget blogs.
Whether it’s Steve Ballmer shrugging it off as too expensive, or Nokia calling it too ambitious, iPhone has had a very tangible effect on the industry, at least in the short term. Interesting times ahead.
