An interesting article from Bloomberg News via STLtoday. In it, the writer Matthew Lynn offers up 3 reasons why “Apple is unlikely to make much of an impact on [the mobile] market.”

He cites, that Apple is late to the party, and that they need cooperation from more providers. But the most interesting point he makes is the notion that Apple released the iPhone as a defensive product. One in which they are trying to maintain their hold on the iPod market and may be threatened by the increase music capabilities with today’s phones.

This is the first time, I have heard of this argument and I am intrigued. I am not fully convinced that people want to combine phone functionality with their music. Email? Sure. Instant messaging? Of course. But music and video may be a different story.

Here are 3 clues that lead me to believe Apple isn’t releasing the iPhone as a defensive product:
1. Only 8GB capacity - Are you serious? I haven’t had under 10GB of capacity for my music since the first gen scroll wheel iPod. If Apple truly wanted to save the iPod market they would have announced an 80GB iPhone.

2. $599 Pricepoint - Although the 2 prices for the iPhone put it as incremental steps in the total iPod pricing structure, to truly make an impact they should have replaced the video iPod, kept the price and simply added the phone, and mail capability. Call it the next gen of iPod, not the new product, iPhone.

3. Just fleshing out marketshare - As it pertains to the iPod, when has Apple ever been defensive? Every addition to the iPod lineup has been to flesh out more of the portable music pie, not to prevent others from getting it. I find it hard to believe they will start with this offering.

What do you think? Is Apple putting this out because they feel threatened?