From what I remember all sorts of iPods were available for years (close to a decade?) after the iPhone was released, so I don't think that kind of lock-in playe

From what I remember all sorts of iPods were available for years (close to a decade?) after the iPhone was released, so I don't think that kind of lock-in played that much of a role. There was a point where I got a Touch version of the iPod because it was much cheaper (thinner) than the equivalent iPhone at that time, and I was fine with whatever other phone I had. I'm pretty sure this was at a time when the iPhone was already extremely popular.