iPhone's biggest competition might be the ASUS Eee PC

Just came across a rather dated but still timely article on how the iPhone and Asus Eee PC impact each other's market by Seth Weintraub on the Computerworld blog. Weintraub talks of the iPhone being a success not only because it is a computer in the form of a phone, it has a very user-friendly but powerful OS with a browser comparable in usability with desktop browsers. Hence, it is also grabbing Internet market share like no other phone in history.

He then cites French telecom SFR bundling the EeePC with a 3G USB dongle package for €199 down and €29/month, which is a very attractive deal. (In addition to SFR, Philippine mobile telecom Smart and a Japanese telco have also offered bundles.) Significantly, SFR is France's second leading mobile carrier and it lost the battle to sell the iPhone to France Telecom's Orange. SFR is partially owned by Vodafone which is also part owner of Verizon in the US. If the Eee PC deal is successful, Vodafone should fine it easy to replicate elsewhere.

Now that Apple has launched its 3G iPhone via exclusive deals with telcos in several countries, perhaps we can expect more such bundles to be offered.

Source article here.