Rivals Pooh Pooh iPhone

As was to be expected at a wireless show where enterprise applications are a big part of the content, rival handset manufacturers dismissed the iPhone's prospects as an enterprise device. Most of the barriers seemed to center on the lack of openness, compared to what is available on other platforms such as the Windows Mobile and Symbian platforms. Enterprise IT manager resistance was another frequently cited hurdle. Some pointed to the still-small volumes Apple can point to, in light of a market with an installed base of two billion. One executive quipped that his firm sold more phones "during lunch" than Apple has sold to date.

Still, Apple got begrudging respect for its design skills, ability to capture the essence of "cool" and for the way iPhone has singlehandedly changed handset design. The LG Prada, for example, features one such new look. Others pointed to the way Apple has pushed the U.S. market further in the direction of unlocked phones and consumer choice. Some pointed to Apple's unheard of ability to dictate terms to carriers used to getting their own way with handset providers.

Some said iPhone was a tipping point, milestone or landmark. It is the first phone that really puts Web experience right up there with voice performance. Up to this point high end phones have been about productivity. iPhone arguably is the first to put "fun" at the center of a high end device.

"For the first time, you have a Silicon Valley company disrupting the whole market," says Cyriac Roeding, CBS Mobile EVP.

Still, there are lots of other important segments, even though there seems universal agreement that, at some point, just about every phone sold in North America and Europe will be a smart phone. Not everyone is going to want a touch interface for text entry, as useful as it is for Web browsing. The HTC Touch seems to require fingers much smaller than mine, for example. The lack of tactile feedback seems to require some getting used to as well, though Nokia seems to have a solution for that.