If the iPhone comes to T-Mo this summer, I’m all over it. In my purse, I currently carry a Kindle (there’s an app for that), a portable XM device (there’s an app for that), an iPod, a camera, and of course a cell phone. If the iPhone becomes available at T-Mo, I can stay with the carrier I love and carry ONE small, lightweight electronic device instead of five not so small and not so light devices. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for this one.

I went into a San Francisco corporate store and they had maybe 100 phones on display, all working. And by that I mean “hot” with the capability of going on the net if one wanted to.

While they had Android phones, the store separated displays into sections, mostly by models, with the hot sellers or featured models having a prominent section.

Of course, by the doors were the BlackBerry models, myTouch, HTC, and a couple others. Along the wall were 30 or so Samsung and other “ho hum” models (phones I did not know existed, like some phone a frog would own, a green phone that will save the environment if you buy and use it. Actually, my sister bought it and I had to go look at it so I could see what she got. I digress, forgive me.

Do you see iPhone mentioned anywhere in there? Don’t you think it’s time to stop putting the iPhone on a pedestal. ;)
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An estimate of 336.5 million handsets were shipped in fourth-quarter 2009, up 15.1% on quarter, said Jake Saunders, VP for forecasting at ABI Research. Competition continued to squeeze handset ASPs. In fourth-quarter 2009, shipment-based ASPs were down 2% to US$117.55, the research firm added.

“Obama’s stimulus package certainly helped save the mobile handset industry,” Saunders noted. “Renewed consumer confidence in the second half of 2009 meant that shipments for the whole year only shrank 4.5% to 1.153 billion. Dire scenarios were mooted in early 2009. There is cautious optimism about 2010 despite the fragile nature of the global recovery. ABI Research forecasts shipments to expand to 1.2 billion handsets in 2010.”

Despite Nokia’s weakened position in the smartphone segment, it still managed to maintain 37.7% of the overall handset market.

Samsung Electronics, the market-share juggernaut, seems unstoppable. Between June 2008 and December 2009, Samsung increased its market share from 15.2% to 20.5%. Samsung has benefited from a strong line-up of feature phones as well as a strong reputation for innovative smartphones.

Korea’s level of influence over the handset market is further underscored by LG Electronics (LGE), the third-largest handset vendor (10.1%). LGE has been counting on its S-Class smartphone series to help it secure a bridgehead in the market.

“In third-quarter 2009, Motorola, under the direction of Sanjay Jha, has come out of its corner fighting with a refreshed portfolio,” added practice director Kevin Burden. “The Droid has received critical acclaim. However Motorola’s market share continued to contract to 3.6%.”

Sony Ericsson also experienced a contraction to 4.3% but has high hopes that its Android-based handsets will generate renewed interest.

High Tech Computer (HTC)’s market share did not fare well early last year, but its circumstances improved slightly in the fourth quarter, to 1.0% share. Notably, HTC announced a revamped handset portfolio strategy, not just targeting high-end smartphones but also launching smartphones that appeal to purchasers with smaller wallets. These low cost “HTC Smart” devices will rely on BREW.

Lastly, based on conjecture, rumor and fanboy blog comments, and with no hard data, iPhone was mentioned on T-MoNews as possibly coming to T-Mobile in 2010. If that happens, the market will be affected by .0000000000001%

Jürgen… you are correct about the Nexus phone, HTC said that it would not make any more phones for “non-carriers” like Google. It does not want the hassles and said to Asian tech press that it will only make phones for carriers from now on (to be sure, that’s more profitable).

So the Nexus One is the only phone Google will be getting from HTC. Google will most likely be getting the “Nexus xx” from Motorola, and it will be a QWERTY physical keyboard model.

And ditto about those who said the iPhone won’t be going to T-Mobile. The fact remains that there are only so many iPhone users out there. Contrary to fanboy posts, last year a billion handsets were sold, check to see how many of those were iPhones. And people are deluded if they think that the only reason everyone does not have an iPhone is because AT&T has the exclusive. (I duly note that when the iPhone debuted in 2007, and to 2008, that T-Mo lost customers who defected to AT&T to get the iPhone.

But those days are over and proportional to total handset sales, the number is not significant enough have T-Mo begging Apple for the rights to sell the iPhone and I don’t think carriers are chomping at the bit to get the iPhone. (And remember, Verizon turned down Apple to sell the iPhone, back in 2006. I have not read anything that says Verizon regretted that decision.)

Besides, the iPhone is not all that great a phone if you stop to think about it. Let’s take one small example. RIM and carriers agreed that the trackball had to go because it was a very expensive proposition to honor the warranty claims being made because of trackball malfunctions. Fact is, carriers were getting a lot of trackball phones returned because, for example, there was something as simple as lint preventing the trackball from working correctly.

Now look at the iPhone. It has a battery that cannot be replaced by the user. (Not unless the user wants to void the warranty.) So carriers and/or Apple have had to go through the same cost intensive warranty claims if they intended to replace the battery under warranty, a move just as expensive as it was for RIM and the carriers to honor trackball claims. And of course iPhone users have to initially do battle when making a battery warranty claim since Apple only covers defects in material and workmanship, a near impossible thing to prove more than a few months into iPhone ownership.

Anyway, carriers pay attention to the cost of honoring a warranty and pencil out things like this when determining which phones to carry. A carrier’s goal is to sell services (talk and now data), not hassle with phone warranty claims. Plus faulty phones = unhappy customers.

There’s also Houston’s comment above that touches on many other problems with the iPhone. I agree with those and also point out that there’s many people (like myself) who will never buy an Apple product because they are guilty of planned obsolescence, just like American car makers practiced in the 50′s through the eighties. (Now look where those 40 years of abusing consumers got American car makers, out of business, bankrupt or struggling).

For those of you who don’t know what this means, in a nutshell it’s where a company designs a product so that it becomes outdated, wears out or breaks down, after so many years, this so you are forced to buy a newer product. With cars, manufacturers could build a car like a tank, but they didn’t because then you would not buy a new car for five to ten years, rather than three. (Ever wonder where the three year, 36,000 mile warranty standard came from? It was from the scheme to convince people mentally and mechanically that they need a new car in three years.)

What bugs me about Apple is that they are so arrogant and blatant about planned obsolescence. For example, every other phone out there has a microSD slot. My T-Mobile Touch Pro2 can handle a 32GB microSD chip. But Apple, nope, if you want more gigabytes you have to pay more money for the device with more memory.

And next year if they come out with a 32GB iPhone, you can have one, for full price, of course.

Apple continues planned obsolescence with the iPad. So not to conflict with iPhone sales, they make sure it does not have a web camera nor cell phone capabilities. (This fact alone caused me to label the iPad a “deluxe portable picture frame).

To make sure you have to buy an iPad with more memory, once again the iPad, like the iPhone, does not have a memory slot. Nope, you want more memory, you can pay $100 more for each doubling of memory. ($500 = 16GB; $600 32GB; $700 64GB).

Sidenote: What kind of bullsheet is that, that Apple is getting away with. Build a device without a $10 memory slot, then force people to pay more to get more memory? That is so 1990s.

This all leads me to believe that it’s only Apple fanboys and the news-story-starved media who think the iPhone is so great and that everyone wants one. That’s just not true.

Bottom line, I suspect T-Mo could care less if they get the iPhone or not. If anything, they might like to add it to the lineup so it can appeal to anyone and everyone in the market for a smartphone, but no one is thinking the iPhone is the must have phone or that it will save the day for slumping handset sales.

While it’s true that Apple has saved itself from the precipice or brink, Apple still remains a small player in the computer world and the iPad will show they are just like other companies, hit or miss with product debuts.

IMHO, the iPhone is dead. It’s run its course and unless Apple comes out with something radically different, the market for iPhones has become saturated. So much so that any new carrier selling the iPhone is not going to realize a surge in handset sales.

Do any Apple fans posting in here have any figures, stats or numbers to support a proposition that if T-Mo gets the iPhone that it will sell well? (Just because YOU like the iPhone does not count.)

I’d be curious the response if T-Mo asked every one of its customers if they would want the iPhone, if T-Mo got it. While I am sure T-Mo suffered a slight exodus when the iPhone debuted (as all carriers did), this June the iPhone will have been out three years. Is there anything revolutionary about the iPhone (even upcoming iterations) that would indicate significant numbers of new iPhone customers? IMHO I don’t think there are.

Have to run, no time to grammar and spell check. I always make them. So pardon in advance for my errors.

so for now.. the iPhone and iPad are staying with ATT in the USA, just like the iPhone and iPad are staying with T-Mobile in Europe.