May 27th of this year marked the launch of the iPhone 4 in India to its market of approximately 1.2 billion people, 41.6% of which unfortunately fall below the international poverty line. Despite this, the price of Apple’s iPhone 4 in the country is ridiculously high, starting at 34,500 rupees (approximately $760 USD!) for the 16GB model with an attached two-year contract. North Americans and citizens of other more developed countries would refuse to pay such a high price, as we’re used to the $199/$299 price points offered by our carriers (of course with contracts as well).

So you want a new iPhone 3GS? That’ll cost you $199 plus a two year contract with AT&T that can easily cost $90+ a month for one person. But what if you want a Motorola Droid? While that will cost you $200 with a two year contract at Verizon, this isn’t your only option. Dell is selling the Droid for a slim $119.99 price tag with a service contract.

It has been confirmed by Verizon that their new Droid phone, the device in the iPhone attack ads, will be available on November 6th for a price of $199 with a 2 year contract and $100 mail in rebate. The hardware, which has been created by Motorola, will be the first phone on the market to run Google’s Android 2.0 and will feature turn by turn navigation via Google Maps for free. However, that’s not where the benefits over the iPhone stop.

Droid, a new phone emerging in the mobile marketplace through a cooperative effort with Verizon and Motorola, is turning out to cause quite a ruckus as the first true iPhone competitor. At least that’s what the companies are trying to get at through their clever new commercial that flat out attacks the weak points of Apple’s iPhone. The ad, which is 30 seconds in length, starts off with an Apple-esque song and black text that drops down on a white background reading “iDon’t run widgets,” “iDon’t allow open development,” and “iDon’t have a real keyboard,” and such.

The Palm Pre launched yesterday and is certainly the phone that has been most compared to the iPhone. While I’m sure there was a fair amount of people who bought it and love it (and let me just say I personally have not used one yet), but I don’t think Apple has to worry for a variety of reasons.

Today, I read an interesting article on MrGadget about why Apple needs to release the next generation of the iPhone soon. If they don’t, apparently Palm is going to break the deathgrip that Apple has on its growing portion of the cell phone market today. Needless to say, I wholeheartedly disagree (even though I want to see another iPhone just as much as the next Apple fanboy), and here are my reasons why.

According to an Android team member, Google did not implement multi-touch into their T-Mobile G1 because Apple requested they leave it out. Why did Google agree, you might ask? Well, according to this source, he is actually relieved Google chose not to implement it. With the signs that a patent battle is in the works between Palm and Apple, Google wants no chance of ruining their relationship with our favorite company.

Apple had their official conference call with Wall Street this week that detailed their earnings for this most recent quarter, as well as some other interesting news and questions. One of the more interesting questions was about the Palm Pre and its relation to Apple’s iPhone and its patents. RBC Capital’s Mike Abramsky mentioned that the “… Palm Pre almost directly emulates what you have already patented.” With that, Tim Cook fired back, “We like competition, as long as they don’t rip off our IP.”

Nokia recently announced their next big thing, the Nokia N97. This phone and internet device with a 3.5″ touch display and full QWERTY keyboard is another company’s attempt to oust the iPhone in the mobile touch screen device market. And, like the Blackberry Storm, this one isn’t going to be a successful iPhone killer. Simply put, Apple has not only created the touch screen market for mobile phones, they now dominate it. Although companies like RIM and Nokia can try to beat out Apple, I don’t see it happening anytime soon, that’s for sure. Read on to find out why.

Up until this point, Apple’s iPhone has been the only mobile touch screen device that has been worth buying. However, a new Blackberry from RIM may soon change that for many smart phone users. The Blackberry Storm, which has no release date yet, appears to be a direct shot at both Apple and the iPhone. With a large touch screen, nice camera, and even GPS, is this the first mobile device that will be able to compete with the iPhone in the touch screen market? Early predictions point to yes.

Interestingly enough, the Storm does beat out the iPhone is some important aspects. For example…