iPhone killers kill themselves.

I remember the time right before Apple was ready to release their iPhone. The entire technology industry had something to say about it. Some people thought that Apple was crazy. The Apple fans thought the rest of the world was crazy (but they also thought they’d look supertrendy with yet another piece of Apple hardware attached to their hips). After the release, billions of iPhones were sold (yes, billions, all other sales counts are inaccurate) and the new game for everyone in the smartphone industry was to create the perfect assassin.

Who would be the one to kill the iPhone?

Would it be the LG Prada? …No.

How about the HTC Touch? …Not quite. Thanks HTC for not including drivers in your products, BTW.

Geez? What happened, everyone? What was so hard about making a touch screen that would be as responsive as the iPhone’s? I don’t know. Fortunately for Apple, however, the iPhone still lives.

The would-be killers never had a chance. I don’t say that as an Apple fanboy…heck, I don’t even particularly enjoy the things Apple does (cough cough macbook air cough). However, I do know that Apple did some very crafty things to give the iPhone its invincibility.

Apple used its marketing genius, of course. The marketing wasn’t very clear, but all that did was help. Apple successfully portrayed the iPhone as being the perfect device for consumer and business user…even if that was not completely true (the iPhone originally lacked several features that were commonplace for either consumer or business phones). That way, even trendy teenagers knew that when they wanted to ditch their crappy Razrs (those are some crappy phones, I’m sorry!), they would move up to the more perfect iPhone. Even if they didn’t really need any of the features provided.

This isn’t to say that iPhones suck. That’s the problem for everyone else…like all of Apple’s products, iPhones make things just “work.” Even while you’re lamenting the fact that you’re surfing the internet on a 2g network, you’re wowed by the fact that Safari is the first browser to bring you the “real web.” Windows Mobile developers are still scrambling to get a decent browser, although it seems that Opera Mobile, Opera Mini, and the newcomer Skyfire are getting the hang of things. However, as of now, trying to view youtube is painful. So what if the iPhone technically doesn’t support flash? Technicalities aren’t for cool hipsters — the fact is that Apple thought enough to include a youtube app that plays converted videos. Why couldn’t a PocketPC developer think of that first?

The so-called killers didn’t even get the basics right. They generally had smaller screens (and resolutions that couldn’t match the iPhone’s), subpar keyboard experiences (of course, call me old fashioned, but I’d keep my Tilt’s hardware keyboard over something that supposedly melds to my mind and can autocorrect my touches…), with clunkier interfaces.

Even good phones that didn’t try to keep up with the Jobses couldn’t edge out the iPhone. Blackberries just seem so…yaaaaawn. Even though I love my AT&T Tilt/HTC TyTn II/HTC Kaiser/whatever you want to call it, it’s not “sleek.” It’s fat. It’s technical. It doesn’t have frickin’ video drivers. Why would you want something like that over Our the iPhone?

Well…I must say…I am skeptical of anything to come out of the jaws of HTC since…did I tell you…they don’t know how to put video drivers in their phones? BUT, notwithstanding that…I don’t know…I must say I am looking forward to something that might be sharp enough to spear through even the invincible iPhone: the HTC Touch Diamond.

Oh wait, only time will tell.This note was made so I could post eye candy.