One of the holy grails for consumer electronics manufacturers has always been to produce a single device that is good at so many things that customers don't need a whole collection of gadgets -- just one. The perfect example of this has been Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone. It makes calls, allows web browsing and email, can play music, TV and movies, and do about a jillion other things.

It's not the first device to try and be a jack-of-all-trades, but it's arguable the first to be the simplest and coolest at everything it does. Customers are apparently noticing, as they are dumping other gadgets in favor of carrying and using just one - the iPhone. And we're not talking middle-income families and consumers either, but those with incomes below the median.

This is music to Apple's ears -- its device is being used by all demographics for everything from telecommunications to video and music to web browsing (possibly being the first "portable" computer for many). ComScore stated that iPhone ownership spiked 48% from June 1 to the end of August among households earning between $25,000 and $50,000 a year. Need Apple say more? Not really.

It's a dog-eat-dog world out there in the competitive landscape of telecommunications, and often the most intuitive, user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing device takes top honors. For years, the BlackBerry, brainchild of Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) was THE device to have for yuppies on the go and young adults in need of a 24/7 e-mail fix. Then came Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iPhone and other hot devices to battle the BlackBerry's dominance.

Today, RIM officials stepped up the competition, announcing new features to boost the ease and improve the service of BlackBerry's wireless e-mailing. According to an article in this morning's Wall Street Journal, BlackBerry users will "soon be able to edit documents directly from the handheld device and to view messages in their original formatting."

The new product turnaround at Motorola (NYSE: MOT) may already be crippled. One analyst, quoted by Bloomberg said, "The Razr 2 didn't set the world on fire and it won't be a phenomenon like the original one."

The cause of Motorola's problem with its newest product may be the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone, which appears to have sold more than two million units in the last quarter of 2007.

While the RAZR2 may be a better product than its predecessor, Apple, Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Samsung and Sony Ericsson have all introduced similar products to take advantage of the high-end multimedia handset space. Motorola may be squeezed out of a market it helped create.

With its shares trading just above $13, near a 52-week low, a weak fourth quarter earnings report could take the stock much closer to $10.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Riddle me this Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) bulls, gadget lovers, and self-identified nerds: why should I get excited about new iPods if my existing one doesn't work right now?

Much I love my iPod, it drives me bonkers. Sometimes my podcasts don't update even though I make sure that my software is updated. Sometimes the iTunes doesn't recognize it. Sometimes, I can only play music I downloaded from my CDs. Oh, how can I forget the times it's crashed.

Tech companies including Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) all follow the same product introduction playbook. They introduce a device or Internet feature before the bugs are worked out in the hopes that consumers will give them "feedback" about problems they should have caught themselves. Good thing for Apple that the iPod is so cool that people will put up with this nonsense, but it is irritating.

Apple seems to expect me to buy new, expensive devices every few years that in theory should have fixed the problems in the old iPods though likely they will have their own set of problems for consumers to sort out.

About the only help that consumer can get is "support" documentation that's written by geeks for other geeks.

That seems to be the way things work in the digital age and that's sad.

Is Apple Inc's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone a flop? That's what the stock market seems to think, judging from the decline in the share price of Apple and the phone's exclusive vendor AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), after the telecom company reported disappointing sales numbers.

AT&T, which also had lackluster earnings, signed up 146,000 iPhone customers in the first two days of sales, below analysts' forecasts of more than 500,000, according to Reuters. How meaningful is this? After all, there is no possible way analysts could have accurately predicted sales of the iPhone since it's so unique. About the best analysts could do is make educated guesses, which have proven to be wrong.

On the technology curve the leading edge is dedicated to the 'early adopters' who buy the latest gadget no matter what the cost is. These people are pretty useful because they act as an early 'heads up' group. They filter through upcoming technology and give us a hint as to what is a useful device or not. The early PDA users suffered through awkward hand-writing technology, and early computer users pushed through text-based prompts for the rest of us. A look at which companies are adopting them though, and the risk therein, can be useful for investing purposes.

Smart Money recently published a list of five gadgets not to buy and gave its reasons for consumers to avoid it. Of the five, Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) got dinged pretty hard by the article due to products of their own and their close relationship to others.

As an admitted gadget idiot, I ought to be drawn to Verizon Communications Inc.'s (NYSE:VZ) Chocolate and Sprint Nextel Corp.'s (NYSE:S) Fusic phones. After all, wouldn't it be better to have one device to play your music and make telephone calls. It's one less expensive thing that can be left in a restaurant or lost in a taxi. Still, I am not ready to take the plunge yet.

Apple Computer Inc.'s (Nasdaq:AAPL) iPod is so simple to use that even a caveman can use it. I really don't care for now that I can't make a phone call over my iPod. I would rather have a good MP3 and a good cell phone rather than a mediocre device that does multiple things.

That's why I am curious about what will come of the reported alliance between Apple and Cingular. CNNMoney points out that if the report in the Wall Street Journal proves accurate, this is bad news for Verizon and Sprint, which unlike Cingular use CDMA technology while Cingular uses the more common GSM. Other attempts to sell iPod phones have flopped because they weren't very good.

For technophobes like me to buy a new device, it has to be durable (we drop stuff a lot) and easy to use. I can be persuaded to give up my temperamental iPod if something great came along to replace it. Ditto for my cell phone. So, I'll check out what's going to come out from Apple and Cingular.

The companies might consider selling clips for their device like the ones kids have for their mittens. It would sure save me a lot of aggravation.

Jonathan Berr is the editor of http://www.desperateinvestors.com.

Wall Street has the DJIA, Silicon Valley, the NASDAQ. Now gadget-happy geeks everywhere (yes, we resemble that remark) have their own benchmark: The Engadget Index. Announced today, our friends over at Engadget have assembled an assortment of their 50 favorite gadget stocks.



And today, on its first day of "trading," the Engadget Index was up $19.20 to $1552.94. Marked by especially good results from Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) (up $1.54, or 3.78$, to $42.30) and Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S) (up $1.18, a whopping 6.66%, to $18.90), Logitech International SA (ADR) (NASDAQ:LOGI) (up $1.15, 4.58%, to $26.27), and Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) (up $1.96, 3.70%, to $54.87). Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD), up 3.22% to $21.50, is also worth mentioning.

Only one stock in the new index was down any noticeable amount: NEC Corporation (ADR) (NASDAQ:NIPNY), down 19 cents or 3.54% to $5.24.

All in all, a great first day! Did Engadget have any impact on these stocks? Would you have chosen differently? Head over to Engadget and weigh in.