If you've read Ars' review of the iPhone 3G, you know our opinion on its usefulness as a replacement for the ubiquitous Blackberry family from RIM. (Hint: not quite there yet.) That doesn't mean the two communication/Internet handhelds aren't going up against each other for market and mind share.

Determining exactly what impact the new iPhone will have on RIM's chunk of the smartphone market appears to be tricker than you might think, though. At least one market analyst seems to think RIM is doomed, and dropped his rating on the stock yesterday to "underperform" citing the iPhone 3G as his reason. According to Charlie Wolf of Needham & Co., the main force behind RIM's recent success in the market has been lack of competition rather than innovation, and he seems to think it's all over now that the iPhone 3G is (sort of) available.

Not so fast, says Peter Misek of Cannaccord Adams. Yesterday, Misek announced he was not only maintaining his "buy" rating on RIM, but raising his revenue and earnings estimates for their next fiscal quarter (which ends in August). Misek predicts shipments from RIM will improve from 6.1 million units to 6.25 million versus Apple's one million sales this past weekend, and notes that activations are up 20 to 30 percent over the last six weeks.

So who's right? Well, if recent surveys are any indication, the smart money is on the iPhone 3G. However, until Apple addresses the iPhone's limitations when it comes to the Blackberry's signature service, enterprise e-mail support, the most likely result is that both devices will simply continue to stomp the everliving bejesus out of Palm. You can expect this issue to be revisited again later in the year, once the iPhone has been available minus the 3 to 4 hour wait in line.