Apple’s iPhone has been quite the phenomenon in the mobile industry. Since its release in the summer of 2007, the iPhone has played a large role in the acceptance of smartphones.  While media phones and smartphones existed before the iPhone, Apple’s product was the first to put everything together in a polished, user friendly package that wasn’t frightening to the less tech-savvy phone user.  It also had a major influence on the market share for AT&T, as many phone users migrated to their service just to use the iPhone.

After four years of being exclusive to AT&T, Apple recently partnered with Verizon and began offering the iPhone on their network.  This was significant for several reasons.  First, it gave customers who wanted an iPhone a choice of network that they never had before.  Second, it gave happy Verizon customers the option to use the most popular smartphone on the market without breaking contract or canceling their existing service.  Finally, it offers some potential resolution to the chicken-egg argument over whether iPhone performance on AT&T was sketchy because of the network itself, the phone, or because of the popularity of the phone straining the network’s bandwidth.

While Apple hasn’t announced anything specific yet, it’s believed that the iPhone 5, or whatever they choose to call it, will likely be coming this summer.  It would fit with their historical release schedule, as well as bring the iPhone up to date with some of the advances made in the iPad 2.  One persistent rumor about the fifth generation iPhone is that it will be one of the first phones designed with the ability to do mobile transactions.  This functionality, called near field communication (NFC), being added to the world’s single most popular smartphone could greatly accelerate the acceptance of this technology in the mainstream.  Technology experts have been telling us that we’d be using our mobile devices to make purchases someday for years.  If this rumor becomes reality, that day will have finally arrived.