iPhone Killer will not be a phone

Image via CrunchBase, source unknown

Ever since iPhone’s launch there’s been a lot of flurry over the iPhone Killer, there’ve been plenty of Top 10 iPhone Killers lists. Every time a flagship product is launched or announced from leading handset manufacturers it’s touted to be the iPhone Killer.

Unlike Motorola’s RAZR, iPhone will not be killed by another phone, simply because it’s not just a phone, it’s a platform with a kick-ass phone at the center and an ecosystem around it where developers can easily create and publish applications and users can easily download and use them. This is unprecedented in the mobile industry, never before has creation and distribution of applications been so simple. As Techcrunch’s Andy Merrett puts it

The beauty of the iPhone is that you can add a collection of applications that uniquely identify you, and help you do the things you want when mobile

True competition to iPhone will not come from another phone but from another platform like Google’s Android or Nokia’s Open Symbian.

GigaOm captures the essence of this paradigm shift really well

In this platform game, the winner is going to be the one that can attract the most developers

And develpors love iPhone because it takes the operator out of the picture and gives them a platform where user engagement is 50 times more than any other platform because of the amazing user experience. Over 60 million iPhone apps were downloaded within one month of iPhone 3G’s launch, that’s a huge number to contend with.

Not that others don’t realize this, Google’s Android Developer Challenge was aimed at luring developers to their platform. With 14 phones shipped every second, Nokia’s hard to ignore by developers due to sheer numbers, and although it has floundered a very big opportunity in the past it’s bound to come back with a vengeance with it’s Ovi strategy. Not to be outdone, Samsung plans it’s own Ovi type strategy.

We’re in for some very interesting times. What do you think?