iPhone users come in all ages but probably live near a big city

HA. In Canada, all of our major carriers have the iPhone, and we have service practically anywhere. The only thing wrong with it is our shitty plans ($50=150 mins, unlimited evenings and weekends from 9pm, unlimited txt, 500MB of data and NO voicemail and NO call display)

The CDMA carriers have pretty much full coverage, and the vast majority of it 3G, of the "flyover areas", which includes both the Great Plains States and non-metro areas of the entire country. This explains most of the growth of Android, since most Android phone are CDMA. Most GSM carriers can roam on AT&T but AT&T cannot roam on these other GSM carriers for some unknown reason, and if you are not with AT&T you cannot have the iPhone unless you unlock it. AT&T's has not expanded its 3G coverage area in the past year either, and are probably finished with this technology. They have moved on to 4G-LTE and will begin deploying it in 2010. What little new coverage area AT&T has gained in the past few years is EDGE, they don't build new 3G towers at all.

Marlyand's preference boils down to... Verizon.

I live in a rural area.
I have a an iphone.
No one else I know in the area has an iphone.
A lot of them have android phones.
They all enjoy 3g service almost everywhere.
I never enjoy 3g service.
Why do I have an iphone?

Overlay this with two different maps:

1) AT&T 3G Coverage

and

2) Population Density.

How many people are covered by AT&T's 3g current coverage?

Yeah, because 3g access is so much more important than protecting wildlife.

LOL...Arizona is not a flyover state. Phoenix is the 4th or 5th largest population center in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population

Get your facts straight.

None of that -- "that could have something to do with the distribution of Apple retail stores, or maybe just more urban center dwellers are drawn to the iPhone" -- explains Arizona at all. We're by far mostly urban, 76% live in the Phoenix or Tucson metro areas, Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the country, and 3G coverage here is great. There are 5 Apple Stores in the Phoenix area and tons of AT&T store.

So... none of those reasons. Frankly, I have no idea.

I live in Montana and had to resort to unlocking to use my iPhone. Wifi at work, home, and the coffee shop is much faster then a data plan too. This is definitely Verizon country, so here's hoping Apple comes out with the iPhone Nano that works with Verizon. ;)

I'm an iPhone user who recently moved from San Francisco to one of the so-called "fly-over states". I'll definitely be sticking with my iPhone, and have made do with WiFi at my house. I would be a lot happier if 3G coverage would come to my area, or if the iPhone were to go to Verizon. I totally understand why people would go with an Android/WebOS Verizon option in states like mine where AT&T's 3G coverage is practically non-existent. The blame for this falls squarely on AT&T, rather than Apple, which is producing a fantastic product. Hopefully they'll bring that product to Verizon soon, as I would switch in a heartbeat.