Many iPhone-addicts have been saying it for a long time already, but analyst Charlie Wolf from researchers Needham & Co. has issued a strongly-worded note to his clients suggesting that both RIM and Palm will continue to feel pressure from Apple’s cellphone, particularly as the consumer smartphone market develops, with results visible in the place it hurts most: their bank balance.  In two separate pieces, Wolf described a maturing user base viewing smartphone functionality as relevant to home, rather than business, life; however, different priorities are being expressed, with push email (a RIM strength) seen as less important compared to, say, media functionality (which the iPhone has in spades).

RIM – which has recently revealed healthy 2007 performance figures – has been successful primarily due to the “simply inept” offerings of rivals, primarily using the Windows Mobile OS.  Wolf suggests Microsoft’s smartphone software is unnecessarily difficult and off-putting to home users.  Palm, meanwhile, is hampered by the absence of a strong OS or of a well-performing device, with Wolf describing the Centro – one million of which have been sold – as a “cushion” to soften the blow until Palm’s new range emerges, a range the company has already admitted will be delayed until the Summer.

And the argument for the iPhone will only get stronger once Firmware 2.0 is released in June; then, Wolf highlights, the enterprise functionality and security RIM has so-far led with will be available on the far more appealing Apple handset, at which point not only the whims of home users will affect the BlackBerry bottom line.

[via Electronista]