From:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...se_report.html

Mobile advertising firm AdMob released its monthly Mobile Metrics report on Tuesday, which included information on the hardware and software used by owners of Apple's handsets in the month of March. The data revealed that just 2 percent of all iPhone OS-based handsets that accessed the AdMob network were the first-generation iPhone.

Philip Elmer-DeWitt of Fortune Brainstorm Tech took the data one step further, and factored in Apple's announced total of 85 million worldwide iPhone and iPod touch sales. After it debuted in June 2007 until the iPhone 3G came out in July 2008, the first-generation iPhone sold 6.1 million units, which is about 7 percent of the 85 million total handsets sold.

"If 7% of those iPhone 1Gs are driving 2% of AdMob's traffic," Elmer-DeWitt wrote, "that suggests that nearly one in three is still ticking -- and visiting the Web."

Is that so impressive? It´s not been three years since they were introduced, and not 2 since they stopped manufacturing.

Shouldn´t there be less than 2/3 of them already dead, or obsoleted? I´d consider that pretty bad, but then again I don´t swap very often.

I read through that, because my job is in mobile internet, and was impressed by the sheer growth of android (32% compounded *monthly*), and was pleased it was stealing share from iphone to some extent

but I was dismayed for Nokia as they barely feature at all

Keep in mind the first iPhone was Edge (2G only). And at least with Apple's fanbase (hough it just may because they are more visible) that they tend to upgrade sooner.

I think appstores really makes a difference in determining longevity of a mobile platform. In the case of iPhones: you can get first gen phones for less than $200 and it will still run all the latest apps released in the AppStore today;

There are plenty of useful apps to turn the handheld into a useful business tool (analytics, reporting tools, etc), data entry points (order taking, etc), point of sales system (even able to read credit card's magnetic stripe), and so many more - to keep it relevant and valuable for years to come.

I wonder what are the numbers like for older symbian phones?

Yes. I agree on every single word. My 2g iphone (while having android in dual boot) still deliver.