Free MSM drooling over the iPhone helped sell many, many units.
The MSM drooled over the iPhone because it was something worth drooling over.
Microsoft failed with Vista because (like Kodak and Motorola and Smith Corona) the companies lost sight of who their real customers were. Kodak decided their customers were retail stores, who used film-oriented products to bring their customers into the stores several times (buy film, drop off film, buy prints) - forgetting it was the people taking pictures who were the real customers, and who decided they wanted digital photography instead. Motorola decided their customer were cellular services, who use phones to entice customers to switch or stay (cheap/free phone with any 2-year lock-in) - forgetting it was the people making calls who are the real customers, and who are tired of getting “crippled” phones labeled “Motorola”. Smith Corona decided their customers were stockholders, who wanted stock value maintained at all costs (despite the technology’s relative but not complete demise) - forgetting there ARE people who want typewriters and not pathetic computer-wannabes. And ... Microsoft decided their customers are content services, who see the PC & OS as a controllable conduit for movies & music (wanting end-to-end DRM) - forgetting that it is the people actually watching movies and listening to music who are the real customers, and don’t want degraded performance just because of a break in the DRM chain.
Apple KNOWS their customers are the people who actually make phone calls, surf the web on the run, listen to music, watch pocket-sized movies, take pictures, and want a new platform to run their digital lives on - people who DON’T want their digital-life experience degraded by some company’s grubby fingers. And so, Apple created exactly what people want - not what they say they want (a la Ford’s “faster horse” theory), but what they WILL want when they are shown the next generation of the technology, and will adhere to when it works for them.
As such, a new phone/musicplayer/videoplayer/camera/browser/etc. garnered lots of free MSM drooling precisely because it was what the people want, and what they would pick up MSM content to read/see/hear about because they wanted it so badly even if it was experienced by proxy. This in contrast to other similar devices, which merely put those technologies in the same box while trying to sell it to someone (cellular services, music services, movie services, retailers) other than the actual user.