Do marketers overestimate the value of the iPhone?

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple and RIM (i.e., the Blackberry guys) “accounted for only 3% of all cellphones sold in the world last year but 35% of operating profits, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff. The disparity will become even starker this year when, he estimates, the two will take 5% of the market in unit terms but 58% of total operating profits.” Obviously, this is jolly good news for Apple and RIM, but is it good news for marketers?

iPhones are undoubtedly one of the coolest technology products ever, and they sold 5.2 million units in the last quarter (up a staggering 626% from the same period last year), yet they still hold a very small percentage of the mobile phone market. How many brands are rushing headlong into the development of an iPhone app even when the market share numbers may not justify it? Of course, there’s something to be said for the caché of having a brand presence on the latest gadget, but I suspect the allure of that approach is fleeting in this challenging economy (at least for the clients who are paying the bills).

“No sex, no gasoline. Just give me some technology and leave me alone.”

A recent study by German boadband association Bitkom reveals that 84% of young people would choose having the internet and a mobile phone over having a romantic partner and a car. No word on whether the car was German or American.

What do you suppose the figures would be for other media? I suspect television would be nearly as high. MP3s and gaming consoles as well. While I take the study with a big grain of German salt, I think it’s not wrong to ask how technology is changing both what we feel we need to have a happy life and the social structure itself.

Perhaps Sartre got it right when he said, “L’enfer, c’est les autres” (“Hell is other people.”). Heaven, apparently, is an iPhone.

Stupid yet amusing new iPhone app; smart and profitable online idea from Prince.

Not happy with the way your lips look? Can’t afford Botox, zany lipstick or really pointy teeth? You’re in luck. Thanks to a new iPhone app, you can talk into the back of your phone and a cartoon mouth on its screen will synch-up with yours. Check out “Mouth Off” here.

In other less stupid news and nakedly capitalistic news, Prince is offering a new internet subscription services. For $77, he’ll perform for you live from his ever-so-tasteful LA rock-star pad. He’ll even take requests. I have already asked if he can do anything by Gene Autry. No response as yet.  See all the gory details of the subscription service offered by the Artist Who Formerly Displayed His Backside here.