It beat the BlackBerry 8300 (Curve), which came in at No. 2. BlackBerry’s cumulative share still exceeds the iPhone’s, however, as the touchscreen Storm and entry-level Pearl also placed quite high on the list. Coming in at No. 3 was Motorola’s RAZR V3, despite its considerable age and lack of smartphone features.

By the numbers, the iPhone 3G took 4 percent of cell-phone ownership in the U.S. (it’s unclear how previous models and the 3GS fit into this breakdown), while the Curve had 3.7 percent. The gap was wider between the second- and third-place finishers, with the RAZR taking only 2.3 percent. Meanwhile LG had a strong showing, with four handsets appearing in the top 10, and a cumulative market share of 6.4 percent.

As to web activity on cell phones, Google topped the list of sites accessed via a mobile device, and competitor Yahoo came in second with its Yahoo Mail site. Gmail came in third, and YouTube won out in terms of destinations for mobile video, making it a very solid year for Google in terms of the mobile web.

Notably, no Android devices made the top 10 list of popular devices, but Motorola’s Droid arrived late to the game. Expect to see it, or possibly the Nexus One, somewhere on this list in 2010.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Mobile Q4: All Eyes Were on Android, 4G and the Rising Tablet Tide
• Report: A Mobile Video Market Overview
• How to Reach Mobile Shoppers This Holiday Season

Among the big winners for October were the new 21-inch iMac, which topped the desktop sales charts, and the more expensive and powerful 27-inch iMac, which took a surprisingly high third place overall.

The iMac wasn’t the only winner, as Apple also saw strong sales in the notebook department. The entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro came in first overall in notebook sales, and Apple occupied four of the top 10 spots for the month, though its other offerings placed low, taking the eighth, ninth, and 10th locations.

NPD Group’s vice president of industry analysis attributed Apple’s success to low numbers on the PC side of the equation, too, in an interview conducted with CNET:

Apple gets a bounce whenever they come out with new computers. For the most part, October was a down month on the Windows side because [PC manufacturers] were working through inventory before the Windows 7 launch.

Baker goes onto speculate about what’s behind Apple’s success:

Over past few years, Apple has continued to gain share in the market, and there are a lot of ways to explain that. It could be the stores, the computers themselves, the iPod, or iPhone. I think it’s a combination of all those things.

There’s no doubt in my mind that customer experience is the key to Apple’s success of late. The iPod and iPhone might have been the gateway drug for many users, but these days I find just as many people for whom the opposite is true. The common denominator is user friendliness and great support. The November numbers will be a much better indicator of Apple’s true success, however, since it will see a lot of holiday sales, and also should show how Mac is faring against Windows 7 machines.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

We Love the $199 Price Point

On the subject of iPhone pricing, Tim Cook, Apple COO standing in as CEO while Jobs is recuperating, made clear that their $399 and $199 price points were working well for the company. Quite specifically, he emphasized the company’s love for the $199 price point, which is clearly leading to high sales numbers. Interestingly, he didn’t talk about storage size, just pricing.

We could see a pricing move based on strong sales and a shrinking consumer smartphone market that may result in a $199 price point for the 16GB iPhone to stimulate sales. Whether this also leads to a lower cost 8GB phone or a 32GB model, I can’t guess, but we will mostly likely see a pricing change when sales start to dip.

We Have Some Ideas, But Right Now We Think Those Products Are Inferior

The netbook saga/flirtation/denial continues. They’re spot on about the hardware deficiencies when they point out that the keyboards on these devices are still too small, and about the software not being well-tailored to the platform as of yet. Which shows that they’re thinking much more deeply about those issues than the offhand remarks would seem to suggest.

Make no mistake, Apple is developing a device for this space. And they’ve targeted the specific issues their competitors have so far failed to address, which means they probably intend to come to the market late but with a superior product. This could be the reason they sought to separate “OS X” from the “Mac” moniker, if they’re preparing a version of the OS specifically designed to run on netbook hardware.

We Feel Extremely Good About Our Product Pipeline

This comment was made in reference to their projections about iPhone seasonality. They also made a followup comment noting that Apple has fear in terms of the danger of the economy affecting smartphone adoption, considering the higher monthly rates that come with them.

References to the product pipeline in this context are extremely tantalizing. What does Apple have in its pocket to offset the threat of smartphone contract prices? Two possibilities come to mind. Either they think that upcoming iPhone iterations will be impressive enough to attract consumers anyway, or they’re planning on moving away from the smartphone market to take advantage of lower contract costs. In either case, references to product pipelines should not be taken lightly.

That’s my take on some of the more salient points of the Q1 conference call, the content of which I reviewed thanks to CNNMoney’s transcript of their live blog of the event. You may think some of my predictions are reaching or far-fetched, but they all come from an analysis of the context within which the statements were made. Whether you agree with me or not, share you own interpretations below.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The Future of Work Platforms: An Overview
• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era

I still used my iPhone for work purposes, but not in a way that was fully integrated or supported by our in-house IT. It’s the type of thing that Forrester Research’s Michele Pelino sees as becoming more prevalent as we move in to 2009. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) like the one I mention, according to Pelino, will see more of the iPhone, since their IT infrastructure is less strict, and open to a hodge podge of solutions supplemented by employees’ own equipment. Because of this, she sees iPhone adoption climbing to as much as 10 percent among SMBs.

SMBs are one thing, but what about large enterprise? Will the iPhone make inroads into this traditional bastion of BlackBerry users? Can they, when hardware is generally company-purchased, company-issued, and strictly mandated? According to Pelino, the Storm will reap the benefit of the large enterprise’s resistance to change. End users are clamoring for a touchscreen phone, and now they can provide one, without going outside of, or reexamining corporate mobile tech policies. The Storm, according to many accounts, doesn’t live up to the standards of the iPhone, but from a business standpoint, it’s a much more fiscally responsible solution, at least in the short term.

Bottom line? Don’t expect massive iPhone uptake from large corporations in 2009. Still, that doesn’t mean it’ll stay locked out forever. The upward trending SMB adoption bodes well for the iPhone down the line, in fact. Traditionally, smaller businesses anticipate the crest of tech trends, since they have the flexibility to do so. Enterprise-wide adoption is far easier on a smaller scale, so small companies are often incubators of big ideas that later sweep the business community. Especially when you consider that small businesses are career incubators as well. People often begin their professional lives at SMBs, and move on later to influential roles in larger companies. They bring with them their habits, working styles, and IT preferences, which can lead to innovation.

The groundwork is being laid, but as Pelino suggests, we probably won’t see major enterprise iPhone adoption in the coming year. Do expect, however, to see more offerings like KBOX from KACE, an iPhone management solution for those who are implementing enterprise-wide iPhone implmentation that allow companies to deploy, manage, and track handsets and users. KACE recognizes the growing appeal of the iPhone to business users, and are getting an early start at providing a framework for when big business catches up. Don’t expect any huge moves in corporate IT departments until after we’ve successfully emerged on the other side of the current economic situation, but if the iPhone continues to dominate the consumer market, look forward to big shifts when the dollars are there to spend.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Mobile Q4: All Eyes Were on Android, 4G and the Rising Tablet Tide
• Report: A Mobile Video Market Overview
• In Q3, the Tablet and 4G Were the Big Stories