Then I doubt you've seen Apple's profit share of the cellular industry. Last I heard it was 32% for Apple vs 22% for RIM. http://www.ismashphone.com/images/Apple_and_The_Cell_Phone_Industry_Infographic.png

How about requiring the user to depress a preselected sequence of keys with their nose?

Don't think for a minute that all these Flash ads won't be replaced by equivalent HTML5 ads.

It is exactly about open standards for the web. What is this HTML5 content tollbooth you're talking about? Open standards give Apple control of the implementation not the content. Apple is perfectly happy to allow any web content on the device as long as they own the rendering engine. They do not want to be at the mercy of a third party - particularly Adobe - for the performance of their mobile devices, and rightly so.

Saw it once in Austin late 2001. It pretty much looked like a contrail made out of fire. It moved slowly, but eventually spanned the entire sky. For a few moments I thought it was a plane bombing (this was right after 9/11). If it passes overhead, you can't miss it.

Don't think the outrageous pricing will last long; the WSJ app currently has a 1.5 star rating in the app store.

Maybe you're thinking of a different .com button? The one I use only shows up (along with "." and "/") in URL fields in place of the space bar. So three highly applicable keys replace one completely inapplicable key. I use them almost every time. No joke.

This argument doesn't make sense because the upgrades are optional and cost does not accumulate. In other words, if you don't think the upgrade is worth ~$100, you can skip one or more cycles and still pay ~$100 when you do decide to upgrade.

Your points are valid, but to put your rant in perspective, the iPhone is leading competitors in customer satisfaction by a large margin. Complain all you want, but the iPhone is a groundbreaking device and the best game in town for most people.