The trouble with being number one in any industry is that you have nowhere to move but down. Few companies know this better than Nokia (NOK), the Finnish telecommunications giant that has dominated cell phones for so long that in some parts of the globe the brand itself has become synonymous with the device. More

Startups and disruptors (yes, Google) seek to rethink voice calling.

Andy Jagoe is zigging while the rest of the mobile world zags. Let everyone else chase the next hot iPhone app. He’s betting the next big thing is a twist on the same old thing: making calls.

He may be right. Jagoe, CEO and co-founder of startup 3jam, is one of several Silicon Valley dreamers who thinks he can reinvent the phone call. And really, let’s admit it’s in need of some Internet-style innovation. We’re in 2009, for crying out loud. Why isn’t call forwarding as easy as e-mail forwarding? Why don’t your voicemails live in a nifty little online inbox?

Remember web 2.0? It’s time for phone 2.0. More

It's undeniably interesting to talk about the health of Steve Jobs. And whether Apple plays nice with the competition. Oh, and the multiple conflicts of interest between the boards of Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG), even after Eric Schmidt removed himself as an Apple director. (Genentech Chairman Art Levinson remains on both boards, and unless something has changed recently, Apple lead director and Steve Jobs confidante Bill Campbell is still Eric Schmidt's executive coach and a heavily involved advisor to Google's senior managers.)

This is all true, and truly worth jabber-jawing about. It also explains why there hasn't been all that much chit-chat about an astounding if unexciting report released earlier this week by the respected Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi that details just how freaking profitable Apple is. The once-beaten company's ability to spew out cash may indeed be its neatest trick of all.
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Randall Stephenson’s business is all about connectivity, which means these days the AT&T chairman and CEO spends a lot of time talking about Apple.

While the company may have an exclusive deal with the maker of the iPhone, Stephenson said don’t expect it to last forever, although he wouldn’t expand further.

When asked if he was completely satisfied with AT&T’s relationship with Apple, Stephenson said, “I don’t think I could get my wife to say that about me so I don’t think I could say that about a business partner.” More

Mobile platforms VP Andy Rubin talks about Android, Chrome, and the smartphone.

The second Google (GOOG) phone in the U.S. had a showcase event last week in San Francisco, and afterward I sat down with Andy Rubin, vice president of mobile platforms at Google.

Rubin believes Google helps consumers

I asked him about Google’s vision for the Android smartphone operating system, whether the search giant is sending mixed messages by promoting both Android and its upcoming Chrome OS, and whether Android is really a good fit for netbooks. Below is an edited transcript:

Q. Android is open and free, so anyone can put it in their devices – phones, cars, washing machines, whatever. But what uses is Google actively encouraging? Are you just focused on smartphones, or are you trying to get it on other types of devices?

A. This is kind of where open source meets business. I encourage high-volume things. A million customers? Not that interesting. Ten million? Not that interesting, but heading in the right direction. A hundred million customers starts getting interesting. So what consumer products have the opportunity to affect 100 million, 200 million, 300 million customers? There aren’t that many. What’s the most successful consumer product on the planet? People used to say the DVD. It’s the cell phone. They’re everywhere. That’s why we focused on the cell phone first – it’s the biggest volume opportunity. More

A year ago this week Apple opened the floodgates and began letting software developers sell software for the iPhone, and geeks everywhere caught iPhone fever.

Since then Apple's iTunes App Store has swelled to more than 50,000 titles, logged more than 1 billion downloads, and inspired an entrepreneurial surge that's reminiscent of the dot-com gold rush — only without the illusion that everyone is making tons of money.

In fact, aside from Apple and AT&T, it's hard to point to many folks that are raking in a pile of iPhone cash quite yet. Matt Murphy, a venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, guesses that as many as 95% of the developers building iPhone apps "aren't trying to build a company on the iPhone" — they're just hobbyists making a little money on the side, or companies using fun iPhone apps as marketing vehicles.

The world is still waiting for the equivalents of eBay, Amazon, or Yahoo — the groundbreaking new companies that will redefine and inspire the mobile ecosystem.

Not that people like Murphy are discouraged.

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Apple's iPhone will face slimmer margins in the near future.

Now that the dust has settled from Apple's iPhone 3GS announcement — video camera! compass! better battery life! — it's time to face facts. Though Apple (AAPL) still leads rivals in style and technology, it's not the breakaway frontrunner it once was. The new phone is cool and all, but now Apple is looking over its shoulder — and it will have to make some adjustments.

That's a big change from just a few weeks ago. Back then, the only credible competitors the iPhone faced were a sleek but boring BlackBerry line from Research in Motion (RIMM) and an exciting but chunky G1 from Google (GOOG).

Since then, however, the landscape has changed dramatically. Suddenly Palm (PALM) appears to have a potential hit with its new Pre, and Google is showing off slimmer second-generation (G2) Android phones. (I've used both the Pre and the G2, and they're pretty darn nice.) All of this new competition is good for consumers, but probably not for Apple's profit margins.

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