Implications of the Ganea Condition

Suppose the spaces X and X cross A have the same Lusternik-Schnirelmann category: cat(X cross A)= cat(X). Then there is a strict inequality cat(X cross (A halfsmash B)) < cat (X) + cat(A halfsmash B) for every space B, provided the connectivity of A is large enough (depending only on X). This is applied to give a partial verification of a conjecture of Iwase on the category of products of spaces with spheres.