What a silly story! (Of course, that's what I've come to expect from the Inquirer).

Attention span of hummingbirds? Where did you get that from the facts? Where is the comparison of iPhone users to users of other apps?

The alternative explanation is that iPhone makes it so easy and inexpensive (or even free) to try new things that people are willing to experiment and try things that they never would have on a different phone.

This is probably because people are buying stupid novelty apps which aren't very expensive, so they hold little value to the person. Hell, if people aren't using their $20 worth of novelty apps, it's not a huge loss for them anyway.

I take it you have never tried writing that comment on your iphony. I find it easier and faster to use t9 on any phone (well not motorola razor), than on any iphone. Just typing socks on the console is an exercise of restraint.

"If you don't get on those Top 100 or Staff Favorites lists, your application does badly however good it is."

This isn't surprising. I tried browsing the App Store using iTunes and it was a slow, clunky and unintuitive experience. So much so that browsing the store on my iPod Touch was easier... but even then I could only tolerate skimming through the top 25.

Apple's insistence that the App Store can only be accessed from within iTunes is a fundamental mistake. If they made it accessible from a normal browser I reckon many more people would be inclined to spend some time digging deeper.