This morning’s Observer column about the long-term implications of the iPhone.

There were murmurs of discontent that the camera delivered a measly two megapixels, still declined to do video and lacked a flash. There was a frisson of excitement when it was revealed that the phone had onboard GPS, and contented murmurings as some new games and other third-party applications were demonstrated. But the only big news was that Apple is to halve the price in a dash for market share.

Of course this is bad news for Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and others, none of whom have yet managed to come up with a device that can compete head-on with the iPhone. But in fact the possibility that Apple might become as dominant in the mobile phone market as it is in the online music business should ring warning bells everywhere…