Are Apple iPhone fans feeling bored?


With most Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone App Store applications gathering dust after a very short period of time, one has to wonder if the ultimate application store for the iPhone is all what it's cracked up to be. If most of the applications have very limited usefulness (one the novelty wears off), is the iPhone more than just an expensive applications platform with a mobile phone attached?


Sure it is. The iPhone was -- and still is -- a game changer in the mobile handset industry. Come this June, however, many of the original two-year contracts from the iPhone launch in June 2007 will be expiring. That is, if those customers indeed still have their older, non-3G iPhones. If those customers want to change to a wireless carrier outside AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) or try to find a competitor that charges less than $30 per month for unlimited wireless data access, you still don't have that option once your AT&T contract runs out without resorting to software hacks on your iPhone.

But has the competition caught up? All of the national wireless carriers in the U.S. now offer fully-capable touchscreen handsets that are every bit as capable as the iPhone minus most of the polish. Unless you're still mesmerized by pinching photos and flipping through your music with CoverFlow, there is competition to the iPhone and will continue to be. Unless Apple can continue to re-invent the iPhone every 18 months or so (or every year) with enough to keep its customers hooked to the iPhone koolaid, the competition is just begging to draw the iPhone user base away with competitive calling and data plans and newer, sleeker and powerful touchscreen phones.

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Last updated: February 10, 2012: 05:25 AM

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