Can Verizon Wireless and Sprint compete with AT&T and Apple’s iPhone?

They say yes, but the Apple factor and the hype might make things tough on AT&T’s No. 2 and 3 competitors.

And the hype is plenty: It has been called everything from an iPod on steroids and the next best thing since the BlackBerry to the “Jesus Phone” by some bloggers.

While Sprint and Verizon Wireless have devices with features similar to Apple’s iPhone, neither has a device with the same concept as the iPhone. “Apple is raising the bar,” says Phillip Redman, an analyst at Gartner.

Both Sprint and Verizon Wireless have multimedia devices, but “no one has touched Apple with an MP3 device” and it will be an uphill battle for anyone going up against Apple, he says.

“Apple has a certain fervor following with Apple people who will love the phone no matter what. That will be tough to compete with,” Redman says.

The iPhone’s intuitive touchscreen, graphic applications and its ability to act as a media player, digital camera and cell phone in one device make it very appealing, Redman says.

But like all revolutionary products, it’s not perfect. Redman sites the cumbersome touchscreen as one drawback and also the fact that new batteries have to be installed by an Apple technician. It’s commonplace for consumers to be able to replace their own cell phone batteries when necessary. With the iPhone, users will have to make a special trip to an Apple store.

Another drawback is that the device operates on AT&T’s 2G EDGE network and not its high-speed, 3G network based on high-speed downlink packet access (HSPDA). AT&T’s 3G network is running in 160 markets across the country. HSPDA supports download speeds between 400K and 700Kbps and bursts up to 1Mbps.

EDGE on the other hand only averages download speeds of 70K to 135Kbps.

Sprint and Verizon 3G nets to the rescue

Sprint and Verizon Wireless each point out that most of their multimedia phones operate on each provider’s 3G network, which offers consumers an experience similar to the one at their desktops.

So why didn’t AT&T push Apple to create a device that operates on both its EDGE and HSDPA networks? The answer is cost, Redman says. 3G hardware costs more than 2G, and it might have priced the iPhone out of reach for many more consumers.

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