• Silicon Alley Insider, Thursday, June 5, 2008 11:30 AM

The tech world is anxiously awaiting the 3G iPhone, expected to be announced by Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Monday. But will a faster model really lead to mainstream adoption? Silicon Alley Insider's Dan Frommer thinks that cool software could prove to be more important in launching the Apple device into the mainstream. He looks at the major media companies creating programs on the iPhone platform, and it's an impressive list: Time Warner's AOL, Electronic Arts, Sega, THQ, Salesforce.com, and a whole host of software startups are currently tinkering away, and Frommer expects the likes of Google and Microsoft to jump on the bandwagon shortly.

What's so important about the iPhone platform? As Frommer says, it's the first mobile software platform with a centralized app store and a purchasing system (iTunes) that comes with a built-in user base. "Because of this, we think the iPhone has the chance to be the first phone that most users -- not just a few -- buy, install, and use third-party software for. Which could lead to huge success down the line for Apple," he said.

Right now, however, Apple is looking at 14 million total iPhone sales by the end of the year (if the company hits its stated target of 10 million in '08 sales); meanwhile, some 990 million other phones have been sold this year. In other words, mainstream is a long, long ways away.

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