The new Treo 850 or Treo Pro is the slickest looking Treo to date. Engadget has the scoop with photos to boot. From a design point of view, this new Palm is heads and tales better than the tired looking traditional Treo. It resembles the new Blackberry Bold, with traces of an iPhone. Lord knows Palm could use a smartphone hit. They’ve been trampled by RIM and Apple lately. The Treo 850 is believed to be a Windows Mobile device and will offer Wi-Fi and a 400 MHz processor with 100 MB of RAM. I’ve always had a sweet spot for Palm, being one of the first on “my block” with a Treo 600. I traded it up to the Treo 700, but got a little tired of it and moved on to the HTC/Sprint Mogul. Now I’m getting a little tired of that, and this new Treo 850 looks enticing. Let’s hope it’s more than just looks, for my and Palm’s sake.

One of the most compelling story lines behind Friday’s release of the 3G iPhone was the term 3G itself. As I read and listened to all of the mainstream press, which included local radio “news” stories and local television news bottom screen tickers, I was amazed at the frequent use of the term 3G. Here’s a telecom term which causes great confusion even within the telecom industry, now being thrust into mainstream discussion. In some regards, Apple (and to some extent, AT&T) now owns the term 3G with the average consumer. They now control the perception of 3G, and it’s tied to the iPhone. Will they be able to leverage that ownership for additional competitive advantage? Perhaps. I suspect we’ll start to see other carriers now use the term 3G in their mainstream marketing messages, in a “hey, we have 3G too,” sort of way. It’s somewhat analogous to how Verizon has leveraged FTTH with FiOS. Mainstream consumers now perceive FTTH as FiOS. To the point where competitors are disingenuously claiming they offer FTTH too.

I can very easily see customers walking into Sprint and AT&T stores today, asking, do you have 3G? Those competitors will have to ensure they can place their 3G offering in the context of what the iPhone has to offer, not in the context of the actual technology explanation. Otherwise, they risk losing the attention span of those potential customers, who may opt for their perception of 3G, which is now, an iPhone.

Sprint released its main competitor to the iPhone with an aggressive entry price point. The Instinct, manufactured by Samsung, will be priced at $129.99, a direct shot across the iPhone bow, which is priced at $199 (or $299 for a better version). The Instinct offers many of the same features of the iPhone, minus the fanatical following. Sprint will market the Instinct through their retail footprint, website, and through telesales. It will also be sold through an exclusive retail window at Best Buy from June 20 - August 28.

The Instinct mimics the iPhone in many ways, including a touchscreen, visual voicemail, and advanced data and web friendly features. Unlike the iPhone, the Instinct also has a slide out QWERTY keyboard. Sprint is marketing the Instinct as their “… first EV-DO Rev A consumer-centric device,” referencing the consumer appeal of the iPhone and 3G broadband capabilities. Sprint needs all the help it can get. We’re sure the iPhone has contributed to Sprint’s customer hemorrhaging problem of late, which has been averaging one million+ customer defections per quarter this year.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs confirmed the long rumored launch of the 3G version of the Apple iPhone today. Today's 3G iPhone news is not so much of a surprise, but its new pricing might be. The new 3G iPhone will come in two models, 8 and 16 GB models, costing $199 and $299 respectively. That's a significant drop in price over the previous cheapest iPhone model of $399. The new pricing reflects a revised partnership agreement between AT&T and Apple. Under the new terms, AT&T will not share iPhone monthly service revenue with Apple, but will subsidize the handset purchase, resulting in the lower costs. The new pricing will be offered based on a two year service agreement with AT&T. The new iPhone will be available July 11th.

The price drop will certainly put competitive pressure on iPhone's rivals, including the venerable BlackBerry and smartphones running Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system. The iPhone has demonstrated already that it is a powerful player in the smartphone market and this price drop will surely strengthen its impact. RIM's BlackBerry has held its ground quite impressively against the iPhone. But the added features of the new 3G iPhone, which also includes GPS functionality, and a lower price will up the competitive ante with BlackBerry.

AT&T might also see a tangible bounce in subscriber additions due to this new 3G iPhone pricing strategy. AT&T Wireless CEO Ralph de la Vega said in a statement, "...The device is built, and priced, to sell." They are looking for "mass market" appeal. It may provide enough incentive for hundreds of thousands of additional Sprint customers, who are already leaving Sprint at the pace of 1 million+ per quarter, to churn over to AT&T. The biggest knock on AT&T and the iPhone was lack of true broadband wireless speed. With that barrier removed and this aggressively priced 3G iPhone, look out Sprint.

According to a recent survey conducted by Rubicon Consulting, 47% of iPhone users switched wireless carriers to AT&T to gain access to the iPhone. That equates to 1.4 million new accounts for AT&T, which possibly would not be with them if not for the iPhone. That’s a nice weapon to have in your arsenal (I wonder how many of those new customers are former disgruntled Sprint customers). Another encouraging metric for AT&T is the incremental revenue generated by existing AT&T customer who upgraded to an iPhone plan, which according to Rubicon’s survey results, equates to $19/month. If you believe Rubicon’s math, AT&T’s 3 million iPhone customers now contribute an additional $2 billion/year for AT&T (although a hefty sum of that figure is revenue shared with Apple).

The iPhone experiment has proven that a wireless device, and its manufacturer, can move markets. Prior to the iPhone, the prevailing thought was wireless carriers needed to heavily subsidize devices, or consumers would not adopt them. So much for that line of thinking. Make the right device with the right features and millions will line up, regardless of carrier and subsidy. Look for a string of competitors to try to imitate this enviable success.

RIM introduced its answer to the iPhone’s move into the enterprise space in a Bold way. The Bold is RIM’s first 3G phone. The Bold hopes to stem the pending iPhone enterprise tide, by introducing similar features and a new style and design. It sets up what will be an interesting and pitched battle for RIM’s historical base – enterprise wireless customers. The new Bold will be exclusive to AT&T for a short while in North America and will offer tri-band HSDPA high-speed access, integrated GPS, Wi-Fi access, a faster processor, and 1 GB of onboard memory. The Bold is expected to launch sometime this Summer.

The Bold also attempts to provide an alternative to the iPhone’s rich multimedia heritage. Some key multimedia features include:

• on-the-go web browsing experience with desktop-style depiction
• a 2 megapixel camera with video recording capability, built-in flash and 5x digital zoom
• a media player which can display pictures and slideshows quickly and play movies in full screen mode
• audio can be played over the handset’s dual speakers in stereo sound, and when using wired headphones or external speakers, the media player gives the user an equalizer with 11 preset filters
• includes the Roxio Media Manager for BlackBerry as well as Roxio Photosuite 9 LE, which makes it easy to enhance pictures
• synchronization of iTunes digital music collections through the new BlackBerry Media Sync application

In addition to Apple’s move on the enterprise sector, they are also rumored to be close to launching a 3G iPhone soon. Early indications are that the Bold will provide some competitive cover for RIM against the iPhone, especially considering their embedded customer base and superior email functionality. But Apple has the touchscreen, marketing prowess, cool factor, and an almost cult like following. Add 3G capability to that mix, and the iPhone will certainly be a contender to fear. Stay tuned.

Once the domain of RIM’s BlackBerry and Palm’s Treo, the corporate smartphone segment is about to get a new player - the Apple iPhone Enterprise. Apple announced several initiatives to make the iPhone more corporate IT friendly, with the hopes of dramatically expanding the iPhone’s reach beyond the consumer segment. The move is all a part of the so called iPhone 2.0 Software initiative, which also involves a new iPhone software development kit (SDK) for third party developers. Apple will encourage application development for the iPhone and will open an iPhone store for the distribution of third party applications. On the enterprise side, the iPhone will now support Microsoft Exchange, the widely used corporate email platform, and allow for “push” email capability, and calendar and contacts synchronization. Additionally, iPhone software 2.0 also supports Cisco IPsec VPNs and WPA2 Enterprise with 802.1x authentication — the standard for Wi-Fi network security. Apple will use Microsoft’s ActiveSync Direct Push technology, and hopes that the new applications, combined with employee requests for iPhone support, will push corporate IT departments to adopt it as a corporate smartphone option.

Apple will have some difficulty. The enterprise smartphone sector is ruled by RIM’s BlackBerry, and to a lesser extent, Palm’s Treo line. Corporate IT departments have never been known to enthusiastically embrace new options like the Apple iPhone. In their eyes, the iPhone’s cool design and form are meaningless. It’s just one more piece of hardware and software to get up to speed on, troubleshoot, and train “clueless” staff on. Many of them will say no thank you, at least initially. They will argue that the BlackBerry is meeting their needs just fine, “thank you very much.” I could be proven wrong. I suspect that many of the folks running IT departments already have either iPhones or an iPod or two. They may already be under Apple’s spell, and consequently more open to supporting the iPhone, than say one from Nokia. Of course the iPhone’s limited carrier reach due to its exclusivity with AT&T limits its appeal as well. Whatever the case, Apple’s making a case for the enterprise and taking on some pretty well entrenched competitors. It will be interesting to watch.

AT&T is making a new effort to position the iPhone as a business friendly tool. The iPhone’s first iteration was squarely consumer focused, but AT&T now intends to make a concerted effort to position the iPhone as a business option. They recently announced a plan to offer a $25 per month credit for data plans which may be more “enterprise” friendly. AT&T currently offers three enterprise data plans for the iPhone, all of which provide a bundle of SMS, web browsing, and email. The plans range in price from a low of $45/month to a high of $65/month. They also offer some international data plans.

Apple unveiled a new video download strategy at the MacWorld Expo. The video download service builds on the Apple TV product, which has not seen nearly the success of its iPod and iPhone cousins. The new download options include 30 day rental of movies from all the major motion picture studios. The download service allows video playback on computers, iPods or iPhones for $3.99 ($2.99 for older titles) for a 30 day period. Viewers can also use the Apple TV set top box to download content direct to their TV. Apple joins a flurry of video download options. Netflix, in anticipation of Apple’s move, announced unlimited downloading of movies and TV shows to PCs for $9/month. Wal-Mart is also looking for a solution. And Amazon Unbox is a player in the video download space as well.

All of these players are trying to carve a niche out of the burgeoning video download business. Many bets are being placed on the Internet becoming a rival consumer distribution channel to traditional cable, DBS, and IPTV. Truthfully, the lines are blurring here. Some days you can’t tell the difference. The real issue may not be about Internet versus traditional distribution, but rather, consumer electronic and content partnerships versus traditional multichannel video operators. Both camps are busily building a model to deliver an entertainment experience that they hope will win consumers over. Can they co-exist? Maybe. They both have their own unique strengths. They will both continue to bring innovation to the marketplace and thus intensify the competitive landscape.

Google’s wireless moves are aplenty recently. The announcements keep coming and the direction couldn’t be clearer. Google will be a major force in wireless, and they see it as their next real growth engine. Just in the past couple days, Google has made major announcements about deals with Clearwire and the Apple iPhone. They also made the cut to participate in the upcoming 700 Mhz auction. Clearwire will begin migrating its current customers to a variety of Google Apps, including Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Talk. Google also announced an upgrade of its iPhone application suite. The suite, code named Grand Prix, provides a user friendly interface to Google services, including search, Gmail, Reader and Picasa. Google’s upgrade cycle for Grand Prix was unprecedented. The first iteration was released just six weeks ago. Google understands the importance of the iPhone. The New York Times reports that visits to Google from the iPhone outpaced all other mobile operating systems over the Christmas holiday, despite the fact that it only represents 2% of smartphones worldwide.

Google’s intention for the 700 Mhz auction are unclear. Some analysts believe they are there to just ensure the “open access” mandate for the C block spectrum is maintained. Google has said they will spend close to $5 billion for spectrum. Should they gain the spectrum, what will they do with it? Building their own wireless network seems far fetched. There has been speculation that they may team up with a foreign carrier, say NTT DoCoMo, to build the network. Perhaps they want to ensure there is a widescale network for their Android mobile operating system platform. Whatever the case, Google sees wireless as the next frontier for their business. More people will access the Internet by mobile devices in the future than do today via PCs. There will be billions of mobile ads to be served up and even more search queries. The moves we see today by Google are only precursors to their overall wireless strategy.