These changing fortunes could represent a temporary blip caused by Apple's availability on Verizon. Or it could be a trend.

Another possible trend is the decline and fall of Nokia. That company's smartphone handset market share dropped from 24% to 16% in one year. Apple remained at while the overall pie grew significantly.

When the iPhone shipped in 2007, nobody -- and I mean nobody -- predicted that Apple would sell more handsets worldwide than Nokia within four years.

A recent survey measuring Web traffic by various devices found that some . And if you think that's high, the number is 100% in Japan and 99% in the UK. (The global average is 89%.)

All these market share and traffic numbers mask a stark business reality: Apple makes vastly more money from mobile devices than its competitors.