The real iPhone gold mine.

Implications: Selling a record player is nice but selling the records is more important. Apple has found another gold mine.

Analysis: While selling one million iPhones is very impressive don't overlook what can be even more important in the long run. Revenue sharing is gone, so the belief that a stead stream of funds from the sale of a phone is gone has now been changed. The real winning was the downloading of 10 million apps for the iPhone. Even if many of those were free one, it got people into the mode to download, and once they get over the free downloads they are goiing to start buying and then later will buy again, a new game, a new feature -- buy again. By selling at a ratio of 10 to 1 during this initial period showed that the process is working and that Apple will reap large benefits. It will also get more developers interested to make additional apps.

Don't forget the very important factor Apple get 30% of the selling price and has very little invested in this product showcase. Almost all the risks are taken by the developors and none by Apple.

So once again Apple has shown us how to dig a small hole and find gold.