Is there an operator's reaction?

...thats the big question these days, when your competitor is offering the iPhone, do you see your churn to increase? Do you feel like you cannot be that competitive any more? Today the iPhone sales are beyond 9 million, which is a number that not even Google's G1 might reach. Will a new plan compete against iPhone's empire? Had an interesting conversations the other days with a senior associate from Booz Allen Hamilton and realized how complicated the future will be in telecom that will end up in a 'high connectivity ecosystem', something similar to what Google is trying to do.

Gartner claims that the operators shouldnt worry that much, since Blackberry is still very competitive, but my personal feeling is that more and more the bz warriors are carrying iPhone, cause its the 'trend', all these updates all the time. Its a never ending battle that will force people to carry both Blackberry which is superior, when it comes to heavy duty business functions and iPhone with its cool mutli-media functions. And somewhere there in-between is where the G1 grows and will serve as mover and shaker, as it is expected to steal some of the glory and make people wonder. It will end up as a debate of Apple fans vs. Google fans. Overall the Telecom today, doesnt looks like an operators' and new services battle, but rather a cell vendor's battle, extended to operators. The operator's role right now is to run after them, build the alliance and get the competitive advantage, offering the best platform and experience to the subscibers.

Hence, its a paltform-based battle, with operators-cell vendors alliances and ofcourse media companies fueling these platforms with content, adding significantly to the paltform's value and services.