The smartphone industry was rocked by the debut of the Apple iPhone (NASDAQ: APPL) last year. To celebrate this success, Steve Jobs revealed the next generation of the iPhone today. The iPhone 3G is faster, more affordable, allows third party software and is available in more countries.

Since it's launch, the iPhone has captured a considerable portion of the smartphone market and stands as the most likely competitor to Research In Motion's (TSE:RIM) Blackberry. With the latest announcements from both companies coming so close together (RIM announced the Blackberry Bold less than a month ago), it is quite apparent that the two are well aware of the competition.

This is definitely a good thing for consumers as both companies seem intent on making innovative and usefull products. While RIM has been trying to meet the consumer affordability needs for some time now, the iPhone at under $200 with push email, a new EDGE network and all of the other sleekness and design aesthetic typical of Apple products, could be a serious threat to RIM's shrinking PDA market share.

In all actuality, it is very likely that iPhone users and Blackberry users want very different things from their smartphones/PDAs. When the iPhone was first announced one of the main criticisms was that it was not as business friendly as the Blackberry and was therefore little competition. Eventually Apple did release a business suite for its business customers, but still RIM is still holding down the US business consumer market for smartphones, further indicating that the iPhone and Blackberry's are targeted towards different customers respectively.

The competition is good though as it keeps both companies - as well as those trying to get a piece of the smarkphone market pie - constantly making improvements and innovative technological advances. From what I can tell, Blackberry users love their Blackberry's and iPhone users love their iPhones. Sounds like a winning formula to me; both for the companies and for the consumers.

 

Image Source: Mr. Gadget