Rival Manufacturers Chasing the iPhone - MARTIN FACKLER, The New York Times

Pantech's design center in Seoul, South Korea. An executive at the company says that riding on Apple’s coattails may turn out to be the best business strategy. Cellphones in these technology-saturated countries can already play digital songs and video games and receive satellite television. But now that analysts and industry executives are getting their first good look at the iPhone, many here are concerned that Asian manufacturers may have underestimated the Apple threat.... The fear now is that Apple may repeat in wireless communications what it accomplished in portable music with the iPod: changing the industry. And just as when the iPod came out six years ago, big Asian manufacturers like Samsung Electronics and Sony could find themselves wondering what hit them, say analysts and industry executives.

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