It wouldn't exactly been a case of having the Wisdom of Solomon to predict that the launch of the iPhone 3GS would be popular. As dead certs in the telecoms market go, this was one.

What perhaps nobody expected was just how popular the launch was going to be and how so soon. Less than three weeks after the launch of the new device, the product has broken records. Not just for Apple in terms of products shipped but also in terms of downloads of new operating software, mobile apps and in what may be a game-changing portent, in terms of the future of mobile video in general.

But back to basics, and basically the launch of the iPhone 3GS now means that mobile video is now in the mainstream. For evidence of this, just look at the TV ad for the new iPhone which stresses in the first sentence the fact that it does video. And for video applications, Apple claims that iPhone 3G S allows users to render web pages quicker and launch applications faster. iPhone 3G S takes advantage of the OpenGL ES 2.0 standard for high-quality 3D graphics designed to make mobile video and other graphic intense applications better than ever. With the added battery life, Apple is confident that users will simply be able to watch more video.

And for users Apple means a lot of people. By 22 June, Apple today announced that it had sold over one million iPhone 3GS models up to 21 June, the third day after its launch in the US, the UK and other key markets. In addition, six million customers downloaded the new iPhone 3.0 software in the first five days since its release. Shrugging off press reports of the affect his well-publicised illness and subsequent absence would have on the company, Apple's CEO Steve Jobs, said, "iPhone momentum is stronger than ever."

And this momentum looks like it would have been even stronger had Apple not decided to persist with the one-operator strategy for the device that it pursued with the initial launch. In terms of UK distribution, existing iPhone supplier O2 confirmed that the two iPhone 3GS models -comprising a 16 GByte and 32 GByte devices-would both be available in the UK exclusively on the O2 network from not only itself but its main iPhone distributor Carphone Warehouse and other Apple sales channels.

The strategy has attracted criticism from the beginning especially in terms of what the total cost of ownership of an iPhone is over the standard two-year contract. Many feel that a multi-operator strategy would encourage lower overall cost of ownership and boost take up. In fact this is what happened when Apple lowered the prince of the standard iPhone early this year.

Indeed a survey in June 2009 by wireless industry market research firm The NPD Group looking into the primary reasons as to why consumers in the US did not want to purchase an iPhone revealed that ‘high price' was beaten only by a general lack of interest.

Explaining why 42% of the survey indicated the price tag issue, NPD's director of industry analysis, Ross Rubin, said "The iPhone 3G's original price of $199 set a smartphone benchmark. Halving that price to $99, while adding more features, should significantly expand the market for Apple's smartphone."

Consumer tracking information used in NPD's ‘iPhone Opportunity and Demand' report highlighted the fact that a fifth of mobile phone owners said they want to purchase an iPhone, but have not yet done so. Data plan pricing and exclusivity remain key obstacles for iPhone adoption. Again nearly a fifth 18% of consumers who had not purchased an iPhone cited the expense of the data plan, while 21% said they didn't want to switch carriers. Many potential iPhone buyers are looking past lower device prices to recognise the greater expense of a two-year monthly data plan commitment," Rubin added. "Furthermore, customers of other carriers, particularly Verizon Wireless, are unwilling to make the perceived compromises that might come with switching to AT&T."

But these issues notwithstanding, Apple is certainly redefining mobile video in terms of what people watch and how they acquire content. In an examination of iPhone app distribution in May 2009, mobile advertising platform provider AdMob found that in less than one year, the Apple App Store had grown to more than 50,000 applications
some of which were accessed by more than 1 million users. Specifically 5% of apps had more than 100,000 active users in May 2009; 14% had between 10,000 - 100,000 active users; 54% had less than 1,000 active users.

Yet more significantly, YouTube revealed that its mobile uploads have increased 400% a day in the week since Apple released its iPhone 3G S. In the last six months, the firm had seen uploads from all mobile devices increase 1,700%. On the YouTube Blog, product manager Dwipai Desai and community manager Mia Quagliarello offered an explanation for the growth, "This... represents three things coming together: new video-enabled phones on the market, improvements to the upload flow when you post a video to YouTube from your phone, and a new feature on YouTube that allows your videos to be quickly and effortlessly shared through your social networks".

So despite the recession, and even more despite the not very recession friendly package prices, the new device seems unstoppable. "Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning", boasted Steve Jobs. Right now there isn't much argument to this analysis.