No doubt Apple took over the portable music player (PMP) industry by storm; but can it do the same and take on the mobile phone industry kings such as Nokia and Motorola with iPhone's release? Chicago Tribune says that Nokia and Motorola will have no problems with market shares... for now. These companies' Research and Development teams should be ready though for a lot of headaches to come.

Nokia, one of the dominant mobile phone manufacturers owns about 36 % market share, with Motorola trailing behind with its 17 % share. Indeed, with the iPhone expecting to grab only 1 % of the cell phone market shares by the end of 2008, they don't have to worry about Apple removing them from the top spots.

Roger Entner, senior vice president of IAG Research's communications sector agrees.

It will not be a financial disrupter, but it will be a psychological disrupter, a research and development disrupter. Mobile phone industry competitors will find themselves getting nagged by people to imitate the iPhone.

The iPhone's audience may be limited in its initial launch. Most of the general market may consider the first generation iPhone as too pricey - the exclusive contract with AT&T may mean shelling out around an extra US$ 150 to pay off contract termination fees for Sprint and Verizon customers - which may deter them from getting one. But consumers will eventually be drawn to the iPhone's concept of simplified design and user interface, in effect asking for the same value and features from other phone manufacturers.

Apple may become a considerable threat to mobile phone manufacturers if the company decides to roll out cheaper versions of the iPhone, like what it did with the iPod. Doing so will mean that Apple will eat up most of the mobile phone market shares, and more people besides Apple supporters, tech enthusiasts, and the rich will find themselves running their thumbs across the iPhone's glass screen.

Motorola isn't batting an eyelash for now, though. "Really, the iPhone benefits the entire industry," said Brian Stech, Motorola phone division's global marketing director. He further explains that the iPhone will direct more consumer interest towards multimedia phones, which Motorola is also specializing on.

This may be Apple's first foray into the mobile phone business, but analysts are already convinced that the iPhone will most certainly change the cellphone industry landscape.

As a user and supporter of EV-DO, I have watched with great anticipation as the technology has moved slowly towards maturity over the past few years.

With Verizon and Sprint signed on as EV-DO supporters and both companies well on their way to completing nationwide EV-DO networks of their own, the question is no longer if EV-DO will be the most widespread wireless broadband technology in the US, but if there will be any other technologies coming to compete with, complement or replace EV-DO any time soon?

The most recent sign that EV-DO has come of age is the USB modem released by Franklin that will bring Internet connectivity to a while new class of devices.

Tablet PCs, lightweight laptops, some PDAs, and many of the recently released UPMCs and other ultra tiny portables that run XP, but yet are too small to sport PCMCIA slots or other wireless equipment, are being given the unexpected opportunity to get online using their USB ports.

Known as the CDU 550 USB modem, this tiny device will only be available for use on the Sprint wireless network. The package comes complete with the modem itself, a carrying case, Y-shaped USB cable, an owners manual, and a Windows setup CD. Once you get your CDU 550 in hand, you'll need to do an ESN swap to move your active Sprint wireless account from your EV-DO wireless card to the new modem. The new USB modem works with all Macs (with a few caveats), but it cannot be used to create a network using the Kyocera KR1 EV-DO router under its current firmware.

Then all you have to do is use the Sprint connection manager (included on the setup CD) to activate your account and tweak your settings. The average speeds for an EV-DO network are from 500Kbps to 800Kbps when downloading and 80Kbps to 180Kbps in the other direction. I would imagine that the lack of an external antenna port on the tiny modem could potentially limit its speed a bit, but since it is the only available EV-DO option for Sprint customers with machines that have express slots alone, I guess they won't mind.