In photos: 2010 summer smartphone showdown
The bloom is on, and as the buds of spring quietly push through late April snow, expectant industry eyes now turn to what has become a critical season for smartphones: summer. Indeed, the release of Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) now-iconic iPhone during the summer of 2007 has turned the nation's warmest months into a veritable battleground of high-end handset launches.
Last year's summer smartphone scuffle ended up a three-way contest among Apple, Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Palm (NASDAQ: PALM): The iPhone 3GS, the BlackBerry Tour and the Pre were all released amid hype and hoopla during the June timeframe. The result? It should come as no surprise that the iPhone 3GS blasted its competitors out of the water, and Apple continues to doggedly chase U.S. market leader RIM.
But will Apple manage to continue its winning streak this summer? Or will Google's Android--gathering speed behind the likes of the Evo and the Incredible--manage to cool off the iPhone juggernaut? And what about Motorola (NASDAQ: MOT), LG, Dell, Microsoft and the rest of the market's heavyweights and upstarts? How are they positioning themselves for the summer smartphone skirmish?
