A few weeks ago, I'll admit that I fell for the marketing. I've admired the iPhone since its release, but more as a piece of art than a piece of technology. All of a sudden, the commercials seemed so much more convincing. I can cut, copy, and paste? Sure, I do that everyday in Word, but for some reason it looks so much more … extraordinary … when a model's hand flicks away effortlessly, copying a phone number from a web site and pasting it into the calling box. And then there are the apps. Who hasn't been impressed at the ingenuity showed in some of the offerings?

Insurers are getting in on the game, with yet another major player — Farmers Insurance — launching a free iPhone app last month that helps an insured submit a claim. Other insurers, such as State Farm and Nationwide, have been touting their apps for several months now. These tools encourage and educate users on how to submit a claim by using a walkthrough approach to the task, even prompting insureds to take photos of damage with the iPhone's camera, which are then attached to the claim when it is submitted.

Is anyone actually using it, though? Sure, the iPhone is a huge hit in terms of audience awareness — "There's an app for that," is now a pop-culture reference. However, in terms of actual market share, the phone is decidedly in the minority, with only 13 percent of all smart phone users making it their phone of choice. In other words, it is a niche market.