ANTenna Blog -- Apple

The faster, cheaper new iPhone 3g makes it official -- smartphones are the new baseline. If you haven't already, now is the time for your company to take the plunge and equip key employees with phones that do more than just make calls.

The new iPhone boasts a much faster 3G network, built-in GPS and business email capability, and now starts at less than $200 for the 8GB model. Pretty sweet unless you just bought a first-generation iPhone (of course, data service prices go up $10/mo or more, so you'll actually pay more over a 2-year contract). But even without the new iPhone, the smartphone market is taking off, and you don't want to be the one left behind.

Last week, Gartner reported that smartphone sales doubled in North America in the first quarter of this year, led by Research in Motion's BlackBerry with a 42% market share. Apple's original iPhone was a distant second, perhaps partly because Apple reduced inventories in preparation for the 3G model. Total first quarter North American smartphone sales hit 73 million units, while Apple sold 1.73 million iPhones around the world in that period.

I have no doubt that the new iPhone's lower price will boost that share -- and perhaps the overall smartphone market -- as cost was the key obstacle for many potential iPhone buyers. The iPhone still costs more than many competing models, but not hundreds of dollars more.

The new model also addresses other iPhone concerns, including slow speeds on AT&T's Edge network, lack of GPS, lack of corporate "push" email, and more. Significantly, the new model lets companies wipe the phone clean remotely, a critical security issue for many IT departments.

Of course, there are lingering concerns, such as the lack of memory expandability, lack of Flash support on the Web, inability for users to change the battery, no "real" keyboard, ties to AT&T's network, and so on.

And there are new competitors as well, including the look-alike Samsung Omnia announced today as well as the Blackberry Bold, which has the physical keyboard desired by heavy email users.

With these kind of choices, the only thing missing is excuses for being out of touch.

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