from the groundbreaking dept
As the June 29th release date of the iPhone draws closer, the circle of hype around it swells even more, particularly among members of the media for whom the functionality of the iPhone represents something new -- even when
it isn't. A side effect of this will see plenty of new handsets labeled "iPhone rivals", simply because they're mobile phones. But some companies are coming out with devices that mimic the iPhone in many ways -- such as Microsoft's favorite white-label manufacturer, HTC, which
has announced its touchscreen-driven "iPhone rival", creatively named the Touch. Of course, there's only one problem:
the touchscreen interface sucks, and is apparently barely usable. Plenty of devices will, unfairly or not, get compared to the iPhone by the media. But if your company is going to portray one of its own devices as a worthy competitor to the iPhone, it would help if it was actually a decent product in its own right.
