It wasn't that long ago that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) changed the way we think about phones. The exact date that Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, unleashed the sleek design on the world was January 9, 2007. Since that day, Apple stock has been on a tear, and has not closed under $85. That is, until yesterday when the stock finished the day at $80.49, as the stock has now lost all of its "iPhone premium."

In all fairness, the recent drop in stock price can be attributed more to the overall market meltdown than Apple weakness. The company last reported earnings on the 21st of October, and blew away analyst expectations by posting earnings per share of $1.26, versus estimates of only $1.11.

As for iPhone sales, sales so far have been great for the company, despite the fact that almost all of its rivals have been moving as quickly as possible to imitate the iPhone. The company stated that it had sold 6.9 million phones during last quarter, which was the first full quarter featuring the new 3G model. Based on that number, the company sold more iPhones last quarter than they had sold all together leading up to last quarter ... pretty amazing.

Consumers may be strapped for cash this year with Christmas approaching, but if there's one category which analysts expect to do well despite the downturn, it's smart phones. Analysts have called for Apple, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) to reduce its price on the 8GB iPhone to $99 (with a two-year AT&T contract), though reports that the company might scale back production point to somewhat depressed demand.

Will Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) finally have its iPhone contender; and just in time for the pre-holiday frenzy? Boy Genius Report has received a leaked presentation from Verizon management that indicates the Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) Blackberry Storm will be released in a "pre-launch special event" on November 20, the Thursday before Thanksgiving. The document indicates the Storm, Verizon's first chance at an iPhone-like device, would be available for testing and pre-ordering at 123 company stores, which would open an hour early for the extravaganza. Actual launch throughout the U.S. would occur on the 24th and 25th, Monday and Tuesday.

The Storm has no physical keyboard, instead using the touch-screen technology similar to the iPhone, a camera, and visual voicemail. Pricing will be $199.99 with a two-year agreement. With Verizon planning to stock plenty of these devices, the iPhone-style frenzy may not exist, but it should be popular for consumers who have been captive to Verizon for one reason or another -- and those whose loyalty lies with the Blackberry. Will this be the holiday season of the touchscreen smart phone? RIMM and Verizon can only put their nightcaps on and dream.

Research in Motion Limited (USA) (NASDAQ: RIMM) announced today the launch of a new touch screen BlackBerry, which will go under the name of the Storm 3G.

The move comes as the company tries to make another big step in gaining market share in the consumer segment. For most of the BlackBerry's existence, the phone has been regarded as mainly a device for professionals, but RIMM has been trying to break that reputation, and is banking on the fact that its newest touch screen will help move the company in that direction.

All of the major mobile phone makers have been scrambling to keep up with the mania that Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) created last year when it released its iPhone, and then again this year when that mania spiked once more with the release of the upgraded iPhone 3G.

In an exciting bit of news for early adopters north of the border, the new BlackBerry Bold smartphone from Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) is slated to hit Canadian shelves this Thursday, August 21. Because RIMM has signed service pacts with various wireless carriers in different regions, the Bold is being rolled out gradually around the globe. The snappy new device has already launched in Germany, but U.S. carrier AT&T (NYSE: T) is so far keeping mum about its plans for the Bold's Stateside debut.

The latest addition to the CrackBerry family is aimed toward business users; as proof, even Rupert Murdoch is getting in on the act. The Wall Street Journal Digital Network announced today that it's launched a new mobile application to provide immediate access to headlines in the WSJ family of financial publications (including Barron's, MarketWatch, and All Things Digital). The application is available for free on most BlackBerry smartphones.

Naturally, the Bold has already garnered comparisons to Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone -- but there are a few notable differences. While Jobs & Co. are slowly trying to make headway into the corporate world, their core audience is still top-heavy with tech-gadget completists and trust-fund hipsters. Meanwhile, BlackBerry's already in business with business, and the new WSJ app is just an extra boost of its Street cred.

Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM - option chain) shares are moving higher today after an article in Barron's over the weekend said the stock could rise as much as 40 percent as the chipmaker enters the market for smartphones. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on BRCM.

BRCM opened this morning at $28.23. So far today the stock has hit a low of $27.76 and a high of $28.39. As of 12:20, BRCM is trading at $27.86, up 40 cents(1.5%). The chart for BRCM looks bullish and S&P gives BRCM a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a November bull-put credit spread below the $20 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 13.6% return in just three months as long as BRCM is above $20 at November expiration. Broadcom would have to fall by more than 27% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

BRCM hasn't been below $20 since April and has shown support around $23 recently.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in BRCM.

Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) decision to open the iPhone to outside developers promised to offer "amazing" and "innovative" software, but German software developer Armin Heinrich's gadget has the few people who bought it hot under the collar.

Price at $1,000, the "I am Rich" application provided the buyer with nothing but a red ruby that displayed on the screen, a pointless testament to the user's ability to blow that kind of money on nothing.

The application was meant as a joke but The New York Times reports that eight people actually bought it, and some demanded refunds.

I think the "I am Rich" application is a hilarious idea. Think about it: it's really not that different from a designer handbag or watch whose value is mainly a function of its exclusivity and, dare I say it, it has a lot more in common with the iPhone than many of its users would like to admit.

By putting together information from several analysts around the world, Bloomberg figures Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) sold as many as 425,000 iPhones the first three days the new handset was on the market. Figures show that the earlier version of the iPhone sold 270,000 units in the first two days it was for sale. Apple also has now partnerships with a large number of overseas carriers that were not in place for iPhone 1.0.

Piper Jaffray & Co figures that Apple will sell over four million iPhones this quarter. That means, with some growth, the handset could be on a pace to sell 15 to 20 million units a year.

While the iPhone sales projections are not impressive compared to the 400 million phones that Nokia (NYSE: NOK) sells each year, the fact that the Apple phone can move this many units at its high price is extraordinary. The cellphone market is currently troubled by the falling prices of handsets as more and more sales move to nations like China and India, and units sold in those countries generally go for low prices, leaving manufacturers with low margins.

Apple seem poised to take a very large part of the segment that all companies in the handset business want -- the expensive smartphone, which also brings carriers big data and voice subscription fees. Off to a flying start, Apple may just become a dominant player in the sweet spot of the industry.

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

Palm (NASDAQ: PALM), the troubled smartphone company, is hoping that a new product, sold through Verizon Wireless, will help resurrect its fortunes. Not likely.

The company's Centro smartphone will go for $99. According to The Wall Street Journal, the deal with the big carrier "will make the product available starting on Friday to Verizon's 67.2 million subscribers, with a two-year contract."

Good luck. According to research firm Changewave, a survey of IT professionals showed that most plan to buy RIM (NASDAQ: RIMM) Blackberries in the next quarter. Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone was second, and that was before the new 3G model was announced. Palm finished in last place.

Because the new iPhone has software which make it more useful to business people, the market for a smartphone from Palm is almost certain to be squeezed further. Palm has been losing money. It revenue last quarter was only $312 million.

Look around you. See all of those Blackberries and iPhones. No one is using a Palm

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com and the author of the Ten Stocks Under $10 letter.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) finished trading last year at $198 a share. On the first trading day of this year, I recommended in a SmartMoney.com column that shareholders sell. In the two weeks since, the stock has fallen more than 30 points, three times the percentage drop of the broad market.

I realize the following statement makes me a bad person, because Apple is America's most beloved company right now: The stock still seems expensive.

I own an iPhone and I'm thinking about replacing my desktop and laptop with Macs. So I get the appeal. Moreover, I freely admit that no large company in is executing like Apple at the moment. The other day I killed a few minutes watching several of the "I'm a Mac" commercials on Apple's website. What kind of company gets people to go out of their way to view its ads? I needed my first iPhone replaced because the screen cracked. I couldn't say for sure whether it was my fault. Apple replaced it for free, which was nice. But they did so within a day, and provided all the packaging I needed to mail the old phone back, right down to little tape strips to close the box and a paperclip for popping open the phone's card slot. That was almost eerie.

Last quarter was a record period for handset sales in the U.S. Bloomberg says "U.S. customers shelled out 40 percent more for handsets last quarter than a year earlier, just as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) put its Web-browsing iPhone on sale and Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) brought out BlackBerry e-mail phones with video features."

Handset buyers spent $3.2 billion on phones, or $83 each, up from $2.2 billion a year earlier, and the most since research firm NPD has recorded since it began tracking the data in 2005.

There may be a lesson here for the companies that could not push up sales at that rate in the past, especially Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Motorola (NYSE: MOT). Americans are willing to spend a lot of money for highly featured smartphones, especially with faster wireless connection speeds.

Nokia is not the dominant handset company in America. though it has the No.1 position worldwide. It should be able to develop product for the US market that is more attractive than its current fairly mundane products. And for Motorola, it is clearly another opportunity lost. Its RAZR was the hot product two years ago. It could have introduced the touch screen or an e-mail based product. But Motorola missed the boat.

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

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is No. 1 in handset market share worldwide, with almost 40% of units sold. But in the U.S., by most calculations, it ranks fourth. And with new products like Apple (NYSE: AAPL)'s iPhone, it may be hard for the Finnish company to make much headway in America.

But Nokia will try. The company understands, to some extent, why things have gone badly here. "We felt we could teach the U.S. market how we do business elsewhere, and frankly, that failed," Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia's CEO told The New York Times. "Now we just want to act, based on the needs and requirements of the market."

Nokia may have an innovative way to beef up sales in the U.S. It has started its own music download service, which gives away a year of free downloads with the purchase of one of the company's phones. Nokia also has advanced GPS options built into a number of its smartphone products.

But music and internet-based service really do little to differentiate Nokia. If they are not options already offered by other handset companies or U.S. cellular carriers, they can certainly be duplicated. And that is Nokia's problem -- it may have very little new to offer.

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

This post was part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst of 2007 feature. The voting has now closed and readers have chosen Google Inc. as the company of the year. Be sure and let us know in the comments if you are pleased with this result.

Corporate America, the markets, and Wall Street are lumbering through a so-so year -- one likely to be characterized by mediocre U.S. GDP and earnings performance, along with ample portions of market volatility.

To be sure, no one will confuse 2007 with a peak year during the "Roaring '20s" or even the "Roaring '90s." Still, there were several standout performances, which we summarize in our "Company of the Year" award.

Facebook

Facebook deserves an honorable mention. The online directory shows considerable promise as an online community and networking device. Provided information is kept confidential and is not released or sold to unauthorized third parties, the business model can serve as another meeting room for groups that might not otherwise be able to meet for geographic or other reasons.

This post is part of our Hottest Products of 2007 feature. Also check out our other Hottest Products of 2007 posts and let us know which product you think is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I was a reluctant BlackBerry purchaser earlier this year. Urged on by a change in email systems at work, I found I needed one to keep up with internal goings on. I planned to retain my trusty Treo 650 as my "main" handheld -- my one true smartphone -- and just use the BlackBerry occasionally as needed.

But oh, the lure of the "crackberry." I'm hooked! My old Treo 650 from Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) is starting to seem like R2D2 of Star Wars fame. It's still my trusted friend, but a little dated and not quite able to perform the heroics of my World Edition BlackBerry. Shares of Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), maker of the BlackBerry, have surged this year from $42 to $107 in good part on its success with the 8800 series.

Most important for me, the BlackBerry updates automatically and doesn't need to be synced with my computer -- if a meeting is rescheduled, I can find out en route. It is lightning fast, and emails are all there waiting for me when I have a minute to check -- even on the subway where I can't get a signal.

The NPD Group released its quarterly run-down on the mobile phone industry. The research organization, known for its comprehensive consumer and retail information, looks at quarterly sales numbers and compares the findings to its own historical numbers.

There is definitely some salient info for investors looking at or in the mobile phone market:

• Smart phone are on fire: "the percentage of smartphones sold during the third quarter increased from 4% of all phone sales in the third quarter of 2006 to 11% during the same timeframe in 2007 – an increase of 163% year over year."
• Convergence of musical devices with phones: "Fifty percent of new phones were able to play music in the third quarter of 2007 (double the prior year) and 11 percent were smartphones."

"The mobile phone market is not only growing, it is growing smarter," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD. "The nearly threefold increase in smartphones shows that this once negligible niche is becoming a more influential force in the consumer market -- attracting entrants such as Apple, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and the Open Handset Alliance."

While Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) commanded the largest marketshare of the top 5 manufacturers at 31%, growth in the industry (47% year over year) is jacking up the competition. Apple has made a splash with the iPhone and its going to be interesting to see what route Google, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) is going to take with its rumored gPhone. Read Sheldon Liber's good analysis of what Google may be planning to do with a mobile platform.

As the iPhone gets more traction, it will be interesting to see what NPD's analysis will look like in a year from now.

Zack Miller is the Managing Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund. Disclosure: He holds a position in GOOG but none in the other stocks mentioned.

Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM), the struggling smart-phone developer, announced yesterday that shareholders approved the company's transaction with Elevation Partners.

The deal calls for Palm to receive a $325 million investment from Elevation Partners and borrow up to $400 million in debt financing. The cash proceeds will be used to pay a fat $9 dividend to shareholders. Elevation will gain board seats as partners Fred Anderson, Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) former chief financial officer, and Roger McNamee, the long-time tech investor, will join the board. On their way out are directors Eric Benhamou and Scott Mercer.

Palm will also get Jonathan Rubinstein, the former head of Apple's iPod business, to become the new executive board chairman.

Palm pulled its new product initiative, Foleo, last week. Now it appears the device maker will try to outdo Apple by bringing Anderson and Rubinstein on board. However, the major ingredient that is still missing is that Apple has Jobs and Palm does not. Right now, Palm is a show-me stock -- show me the results before I jump into these shares.