http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2009/04/29/verizon-flooded-with-calling-suitors.aspx

The details of the smartphone aren't yet available but I believe its very likely simply because there is a codename ('pink') and verizon is being pitched  products to high heaven by both MS and Apple?

Does a fully integrated windows 7 smartphone stand a chance against the Iphone?

Please discuss.

The iPhone is riding the popularity wave and hasn't fallen off yet. Right now the idea of something "stopping" it is not possible. It will simply need to run its course.

However, what the market really needs right now is a low-cost alternative to the iPhone, that features robust support for a lot of common enterprise tools such as Outlook/Exchange/Sharepoint, and has a more open development environment (which allows for services).

Google's various comparable offerings keep losing the low-cost part with their most recent one weighing in at $400+ IIRC. Microsoft has the skill and the software base to make a very competitive product that, while not stopping the iPhone, would change the landscape of the market.

They need to be better.  It's already too late to be quick.

You should check out my other ZuneHD smartphone thread I just posted. I don't think it's likely but could the Zunehd smartphone be MSs' answer to the Iphone and the 'pink' be the professional answer to everything else?

The pink if real, will undoubtedly run on windows mobile 7 providing convinience, as sleek a browser as the Iphone's and all the buisness perks to contend with the RIMM products.

However all this could be rendered moot if the zuneHD and the 'pink' are one in the same.

I have owned the original Iphone and have recently upgraded to the 3gs. I absolutely love it and am very spoiled with it. Most other smartphones feel like an irritating hunk of plastic to me now.

I definitely agree that any true challenger to the Iphone needs a competitive comparable app store of it's own. The Iphone's greatest strength is not it's hardware but its UI and software. The hardware from other companies is already catching up and MS i think is one of the better candidates to surpass it in hardware. Yet, the Iphone remains undeterred.

The palm pre for instance, is an amazing phone. The best phone besides the Iphone in my mind hands down. It's certainly doing well but the Iphone has seen no slow down, just records. This is because even though the pre compares to and at times matches the iphone in functionality (ive tried and compared, the pre is excellent) it's app store pales in comparison. No app store is supported like apples app store.

The iPhone is already cheep. You can get one for $99.

The problem with anyone competing with iPhone, is the same problem with anyone competing with Apple as a whole. Only Apple (in the computer industry), measures the right metrics for success. Apple cares about how a device effects your life, not what the device is (why you never hear about specs much from Apple).

A very early example of this was Fugi with camera design. Back in the 70's, every camera company was looking to make a camera with the best features. They wanted the best lenses, options, bodies, etc...

Fugi looked at what people wanted out of a camera... better pictures. The pictures is what mattered to the users, and not the camera itself. So, Fugi built and marketed cameras that made it easy to take better photos (auto focus, auto feed film that would not get exposed, automatic settings... etc).

This way of thinking exploded Fugi's market (they are currently the world’s largest photographic and imaging company), and they never looked back.

Microsoft has the money and capability to take down the iPhone. They just have never had, and probably never will have, the mindset needed.

I was surprised Zune Phone wasn't announced at MWC earlier this year.

And I thought "Pink" was the codename for ZuneHD...? Guess I was mistaken. *shruggs* I'll take the pink any way I can get it.

Very insightful, makes alot of sense. Apple certainly does aim for the lifestyle aspect of their devices. I don't believe the Iphone will ever be phased out until the next technical revolution in phones or what not. It's just too huge. I do believe however MSs' smartphone however will not only be a good alternative but a foe. It will reduce the Iphone's market share until the Iphone might be the best selling but not dominating. 

MS embodies capitalism right down to the teeth and they just keep growing. They also have windows on their side, big advantage.