Player serves as gateway to iPhone use

The iPod touch is more important to Apple than many people may think, claims analytics group Flurry. The firm says it tracks four platforms, and roughly 3,000 applications and 45 million people. Within this, the Touch is said to account for 35 percent of user sessions. Of the over 58 million devices with iPhone firmware sold worldwide, the Touch is estimated to represent a little over 40 percent, or at least 24 million units.

The hidden impact, says Flurry, is that Apple is exploiting the Touch as a means of fostering a current and future base of iPhone users. The player is likened to McDonald's Happy Meal, a cheap product used to hook children on the restaurant and keep them visiting as adults. As a result of price, the Touch is similarly more suitable for teenagers and preteens, who may get locked into an Apple habit as result of not wanting to abandon apps or the familiarity of the iPhone/iPod interface.

The influence of this audience is thought to be making the device unusually important in terms of its social networking usage, as it now represents 42 percent of such traffic in Flurry figures, up from 40 percent in June. The iPhone declined a point to 49 percent during the same period, while Android phones rose a point to hit 8 percent. The remaining fraction consists of "other devices," bunched together due to their marginality.

Youths are claimed to be further swaying figures in terms of gaming, giving the Touch 49 percent of traffic, up from 43 percent. Android devices have slipped from 2 to 1 percent, and the iPhone has suffered even further, dropping to 46 percent.

by MacNN Staff