iPhone share of U.S. smartphone traffic hits 69%

Fortune ^ | 06/25/2009 | By Philip Elmer-DeWitt

[rwfromkansas]

wow

[Star Traveler]

LOL..., so that’s the plan of the doctors — for repeat business :-)

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"wow"

Yeah. It caught my eye too... the old 3G's javascript performance now equals that of the Pre. That's quite surprising considering that the Pre's "WebOS" operating system relies on javascript for just about all its functionality. Since IIRC the iPhone 3GS and Pre use the same ARM processor, that suggests Palm has a little work to do deep in their OS.

IMHO, the Pre's all-browser architecture might emerge as its technological Achilles heel. Means you can't do anything that an ordinary browser can't do, and no native apps. Similar to the first-gen iPhone's situation circa 2007-- all developers had to work with in the pre-App Store days were web apps. But it's TBD if the Pre's browser-centricity is really a limitation for a handheld device. In any case, if you're going to build a browser-centric device that is heavily dependent on Javascript for its goodies and gewgaws, then you'd think Javascript-execution optimization would be especially important.

Note the old 3G uses an older, slower, less efficient and less capable processor than the 3GS and Pre. The fact that so much improvement is possible with just a software upgrade pretty much proves that software is at least as important as hardware for devices like these. Another interesting point to consider is that the Pre, Android and of course the iPhone's Safari browser are all based on Apple's highly-regarded, open-source Webkit browser engine. I'd guess that indicates that the difference doesn't lie in the browsers themselves.

Fascinating stuff, and illuminating, but for now it raises more questions than it answers!

[MediaMole]

Official tethering will probably add another $30 to the bill, which will make the data part of the iPhone plan about the same cost as an air card plan.

I tested the tethering and it works. I have no intention of using it on a regular basis since they would cut me off if they caught me. It’s nice to have it as an emergency option for transmitting photos from a remote location.

[RocketMan1]

I guess that’s why yours shows up so prominently in the graph, too... eh?

Just like the Obamabots ("Oh-Bomb-UH!" "Oh-Bomb-UH!"), no one can beat the cult of Apple Fanboys!

Still, my WinMo phone can beat up your silly little iPhone thingie! ;-P

[Star Traveler]

You said — Just like the Obamabots (”Oh-Bomb-UH!” “Oh-Bomb-UH!”), no one can beat the cult of Apple Fanboys!

—

Well, let’s put that one in the proper context. Those are not former Apple users who were all buying those things, although some Apple users were. These were people who had never bought anything Apple before and this was their first go at it.

In fact, I’m reading, right here on Free Republic, where people are buying iPhones and iPods and then Apple computers, who have never done so before. Their numbers seem to increasing (from my own personal viewpoint) and that’s backed up by the “numbers”, too.

Then a further context to this is — that this is coming from *absolutely nothing existing* in the phone market (i.e., Apple had *no product* in the phone market) in only two years. That’s all it has been now. It’s just two years, and no more..., and from a very large number of people who have never used Apple products.

I remember “pundits” back then, before the phone came out, saying that it would never go anywhere, it would fail, no one would get it, and so on. Well, now we can all have a real big laugh on those pundits... LOL...

In fact, in talking about people who have never used Apple products, in the Apple Stores, and for the computers which are sold there, Apple has reported that over 50% of their sales are to people who have never bought an Apple computer before (these are “Windows people” and whatever few non-computer owners there are...).

It would appear that this phenomenon is not simply Apple people who are creating the hoopla, but a whole lot of people who have never had anything to do with Apple before. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, I believe the “former non-Apple owners” far outnumber the old Apple users... LOL...

It appears that they’ve discovered there was a very good reason that those Apple users had been buying those Apple products in the past. They’ve decided to buy the best, too... now...

The cheering squad that you’re talking about has, long ago, been outnumbered by those who found out that there was something to buying the best and enjoying the benefits of it.