Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"I own an iPhone 3G and I'm looking for a decent speaker / alarm clock for it. I am going to listen music in a mid-sized room, so I want nice quality speakers with solid bass. I also want to use it as an alarm clock, so it would be great if there is such a feature. The price can be low-mid to mid-high range. I was looking at the Klipsch iGroove SXT; it's powerful, slick and the reviews are good, but it doesn't have an alarm clock feature. It's no deal breaker if I can set it up from the iPhone, but I'm not sure. Thanks!"
Your post was very well-written and the content was dead on. Talking about the iPhone, since its release, every manufacter is trying to mimic the form factor. They do not provide it was fast enough processors nor do they tinker with the screen so it is as responsive. Their interfaces do not optimize on the form factor, either. You said it perfectly, "As it stands, everyone is playing catchup with the new kid, who blew right past them by understanding the mobile ecosystem, and not just the point solution."
But if we're making direct comparisons to the iPhone, you must concede that they went for form first, then they worked on the software front. For is initial release, it did have the usual Applesque great interface, but the updates are what made the capable device it currently is. To that end, it seems as though manufacturers are stuck at try to get the form right, e.g., haptic support, good touchscreen, etc...before it works on perfecting the software. Apple got the form correct for the go (although I guess hatpic would've been nice) allowing it to work on functionality.
...for some reason, I'm likening this to Maslow's hierarchy in my mind where we need to provide for the rudimentary needs first then improving from there. But yeah, it does just seem to a hardware-contest.