Don't be naive to believe that. Nokia's fans thought the same thing, then watched market share in smartphones fall from 70% to 40%. Success in tech is short lived. The longevity of anything comes from ability to grow the concept. Apple hasn't done much of that. Where's the keyboard, iPhone Mini, multitasking, and better signal strength users have been begging for? In HTC, Blackberry, Nokia, and Samsung devices, that's where. Apple's still working under the same rules as everyone else, and making the same mistakes that kept them in a niche in the PC market.
As a musician and recording engineer, please stop dissemenating this old wive's tale. Macs WERE the choice for recording artists and content creators back when those types weren't always geeky or tech savvy maybe 10 years ago. Not any more. More movies are made on PCs than Macs, most audio is done on PCs, and most schools that teach media feature labs full of HP, Dell, and IBM PCs running Windows. Go tour Full Sail University, Dallas Sound Lab, or any commercial studio out there today. I promise, its alot more ASIO equipment then Audio Units. I used to use a hella expensive Pro Tools Mix Mac rig with big bucks in farm cards, etc. Now I use Nuendo on a PC with virtual plugin accelerator cards. Apple saw the creatives starting to leave, and bought Logic and made it Mac only to try to stem the exodus, but do you know any pro studios running Logic? This is 2009, not the 90s.

The problem is not smarts, but exposure. Symbian is ok for Europe because they're used to it. Windows is good for the US because we're used to it. When you grow up using something, its simple. I used to teach Windows and Microsoft Office classes at a job I had years back. Today, kids could teach the same class.

Right now, the US is behind in tech, so the iPhone is perfect for this market. All of the tech of today with training wheels. But people advance. Look at 10 years ago with AOL. It was all the rage and super simple. Where is it today? A distant memory. Users grow, and tech must grow with them. iPhones are popular because they are good introductions to mobile tech for those new to the space, and great for those wanting the core features without all the extra fluff they won't use. It has nothing to do with rich or poor, but smarts, maybe a little. Not everyone will always want this simple training wheels approach, and you'll begin to see people "upgrade" from an iPhone alot in the coming years. Whether Apple provides that upgrade or someone else remains to be seen.

And in the US, the iPhone is considered cheap. Its $199 on contract, while most high end devices have gone for $300+ on contract until now. The Vertu devices aren't popular, and I rarely see them outside of magazine ads. Not a good comparison to the iPhone at all.

Good question. We'll see once the at&t gravy train leaves the station. Without cheap pricing, I don't see their ARPU staying as high.