Apple just hit the sweet spot of convergence. Nearly everyone wanted to carry around a cell phone and a music player and so mating them together is a big thing

Apple just hit the sweet spot of convergence. Nearly everyone wanted to carry around a cell phone and a music player and so mating them together is a big thing. However, they also made it a mobile computer and internet device along with those things. And it's the same single device that you would "have" to carry around anyway - the cell phone - and have a lot of nice extras thrown in that you might not carry a dedicated device for. And as Nintendo showed with their Wii, there's a huge market for games outside of the core gamer crowd. People who want something fun, cheap, and accessible. And the App Store provides that - a couple dollars becomes an impulse purchase while $30 is something you have to think about. The problem with other handhelds is that they do one thing - games. Apple's handheld gaming machine also serves an essential function - phone - but also provides gaming. I, as a consumer, don't want to have to remember and carry a lot of devices. And the iPhone means that I can carry a little game machine, phone, media player, internet device all in one. And that gives me a lot of engagement in the platform in the way that sometimes remembering a non-essential device doesn't.