However, this does also cloud many truths. How about the fact that only 11% of all mobile internet traffic is generated by the iPhone? Also, consider that the iPhone only accounts for 13% of all the smart phones in the world, with Nokia taking a very healthy share of 45% (5.4m units and 105m units respectively).

So despite the massive marketing and commercial success of Apple’s iPhone, it still only accounts for a relatively small percentage of the market. All telecoms providers today have launched, or are launching, some form of paid application portal. With over 2 billion iphone applications downloaded from over 92,000 unique applications, there’s is simply no need to attempt to sell this idea. There is a history of paying for items on the phones, from ringtones to MP4 movies, being that this is an established commercial enterprise, it’s only a case of providing the infrastructure.

However, Apple are enjoying what many believe may well be a brief period of champagne and strawberry’s. Google’s Android, although a successful experiment in smart phone technology, was basically nothing other than a beta version. Android 2, as seen in the following commercial, is expected to revolutionise, again, the mobile internet industry. Apple has it’s fantastic mobile suite of applications working on the single iPhone. Android, however, has a reach of 100’s of handsets. This added exposure will surely give Android 2.0 a massive leap when competing, and standardising, mobile technology.

What’s more, as consumers, marketers can now get real up close and personal – we can practically get into their faces when they are in bed, on the toilet, in the pub – passive advertising without the constant need to intrude. 60% of apps are used in bed or whilst waiting for someone or something.

BMW recently spent approximately £40k on their iPhone application. In terms of iPhone apps, that is the top end of the market. However, for as little as £5k, you can build relatively simple iPhone friendly websites and applications that can very cheaply bolster brand awareness. Come up with a funky idea, and you could have a self perpetuating free advertising slot for a long time.