The atmosphere grew a little tense Wednesday at the IBF Venture Capital Investing Conference when a panel discussion on next-generation wireless technologies returned repeatedly to one single technology, Apple Inc.'s iPhone. Partners from various venture funds including the venture arms of Nokia Oyj and Qualcomm Inc. seemed to cite the iPhone as the breakthrough that would fix all the industry's most vexing challenges, from developing an effective way to advertise on mobile phones to incorporating payment solutions in their design.

Anthony Palcheck, the investment director of Motorola Ventures, meanwhile, shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Motorola Inc.'s own problems with poor cell-phone design and slow pace of innovation led to a proxy battle with Carl Icahn earlier this year, talk of deals to bolster its product offerings and lots of painful comparisons to cell-phone newcomer Apple.

Palcheck did his best to stay out of the Apple praisefest until Rob Trice, general partner of Nokia Growth Partners, volunteered, "I appreciate what Steve Jobs has done. Even though we haven't seen the [iPhone] device yet, it is going to push the industry forward, for better or worse."

At that point, when Palcheck's silence on the issue became deafening, he finally spoke up with what seemed to be a hastily put together comment that would sound gracious enough without admitting defeat entirely. "Jobs is challenging the status quo of the industry," he said. "Personally, I'm not going to let my 15-year-old or my 17-year-old walk around with a $500 phone." He didn't, however, say whether he would buy one for himself or not. —Andrea Orr

See May 8 story on Motorla at TheDeal.com