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Imminence of iPhone launch means rival music and video phones may suddenly cross Atlantic from Europe

Competition may heat up following the iPhone launch, as European market leading devices respond. Surprisingly, one reason the iPhone is seen as revolutionary in the US market is the simple one - that market leaders like LG and Nokia and Sony Ericsson don't sell MP3 phones into North America.

Reuters reports that "Global phone makers such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson and LG Electronics Inc. already sell music phones that the iPhone will challenge, while Research In Motion Ltd.'s Blackberry e-mail device is loved by professionals," but points out that handsets like the digital Walkman phone (sales now over 25 million units in 18 months) or  Nokia's N95 are not sold in the United States through wireless carriers.

And LG's Prada phone [above, left] "often cited as the closest device to iPhone for its touch screen," will follow, not lead, the iPhone launch.

Business Week thinks this hardly matters: in a section entitled: "A Sub-Laptop Computer" Adrian J. Slywotzky considers: "So far, so what? Companies such as Nokia already have high-end phones of their own with great features aplenty. But behind the cool phone lurks something quite different: Apple's wedge entry into a lucrative new array of markets; a springboard for evolution into a new generation of devices, services, and infotainment systems; and another redistribution of power among industries, this time including cell-phone makers, network operators, makers and distributors of movies and TV programming, and computer companies."

And, Slywotzky argues: "Consider this: iPhone is not just a phone. It's also the world's first really powerful sub-laptop computer, equipped with an optimized version of the user-friendly Mac OS X operating system. More important, it's an 80/20 computer - the iPhone will provide 80% of what you really use your computer for: e-mail, Web browsing, simple word processing, and access to music, pictures, and video when and where you want them."

As the Globe and Mail reports, Apple is taking a big gamble in insisting that this is a phone. It's not an iPod with cool new features - "According to several reports, the device will not only be "locked" to the AT&T network (a common practice carriers use to dissuade people from switching), but many of its features will only work with the SIM card that comes installed in the iPhone when it is purchased. Some reports say the iPhone's SIM card may not even be removable."

Exactly what this means when users go roaming to Europe remains to be seen.