‘World’ iPhone could knock Blackberry off its perch

A new microchip could allow Apple's iPhone to be used anywhere in the world - and finally help it overhaul the Blackberry to become the smartphone of choice for international business people.

Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Northeast Securities, has claimed in a note to investors that the 'world' iPhone would use a hybrid microchip made by Qualcomm that can operate on both the 3G mobile phone networks that prevail in Europe and Africa and the CDMA2000 networks used in the US, China and other parts of the world.

Kumar says that the new handset will be released in the US by Verizon in summer 2010. The report backs up a note from OTR Global last week which claimed 'sources' in the Taiwanese handset manufacturing industry were saying a 'world phone' slightly smaller than the current iPhone had been ordered for the third quarter of 2010.

This week Apple overtook Nokia as the most profitable maker of phones in the world - making $1.6bn to the Finnish company's $1.1bn. And not content with cornering the market in consumer handsets, Apple now seems bent on dethroning Research in Motion's Blackberry as the favoured smartphone of choice for businesses.

An iPhone that could be used anywhere in the world is only the latest shot in that war. Now speculation that Apple is planning to install a technology called 'Near Field Communications' (NFC) in its next generation iPhone could open another front.

NFC allows handsets to exchange information even when they are switched off. An NFC-enabled iPhone could be held next to another smartphone to exchange contact information, for example, or swiped at a check-out to pay for goods. Nokia has attempted to push the technology recently, but has so far been met with consumer indifference. Apple's involvement could give NFC the 'cool' factor it needs to gain momentum.

Apple has also tried to tackle its main disadvantage compared to the Blackberry - security. New features such as the ability to track a stolen iPhone and remotely wipe its hard drive have helped, but the Blackberry still leads the way. "Apple is heading in the right direction. But Blackberry still has the upper hand in their technology," computer forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski told Wired magazine. ·