Update on Professor Fader at Wharton

In June of 2007, I wrote about a podcast I had heard from Wharton from a Marketing Professor who claimed the iPhone was not going to sell well. He argued that the price was too high - most consumers would avoid it based on price. He argued also that iTunes was not a model that would continue for music distribution - he thought subscription models would be the wave of the future - renting music instead of buying it.

When the 3G model came out I became a minor celeb in the line to purchase the new phone because a kid in front of me had bought the original iPhone based on my review of the professor's remarks. The guy in front of me had changed his mind and bought an iPhone after reading my post.

We're now just under three years into the product cycle. It might be time for an update. iPhones are now about a quarter of the smartphone market. (For Wharton professors that is one phone in four in a very competitive market.) And that smartphone market in terms of total cellular sales is a growing percentage. Oh, as a result of the ap market and the continuing expansion of other parts of iTunes, the percentage of revenue going to Apple from that division continues to build.