iPhone claims high-ranking spot on Flickr

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TheiPhone has risen to prominence on Flickr, rivaling most SLRs inpopularity. These statistics from Yahoo cover the last 12 months.
(Credit: Yahoo)

The iPhone isthe mobile device of choice these days for doing most things that needa network. So it shouldn't be a surprise that the phone has carved outa prominent place on Yahoo's photo-sharing site, Flickr.
The Flickr Camera Finder,Yahoo's statistical counter of camera use among its members, shows thatsince the arrival of the iPhone 3G model earlier this year, the phonehas vaulted not only over all other camera phones, trouncing the NokiaN95 in second place, but also almost all ordinary cameras.
That's a notable accomplishment. I've been watching the Flickr Camera Finder for two years,and that's the first time I recall a camera phone placing so highly.The top ranks have been dominated by SLRs, the camera of choice formany of Flickr's heaviest users.

                               
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Withthe debut of the 3G model, Apple's iPhone surged to a commanding leadamong camera phones used at Flickr. These statistics from Yahoo coverthe last 12 months.
(Credit: Yahoo)
Right now the iPhone is in a virtual tie with Canon's Rebel XT andNikon's D80, two SLRs whose popularity is waning with the arrival ofnewer models from the dominant makers of such cameras. Only Canon'snewer Rebel XTi outranks the iPhone.
Though the trajectory is clear, there are caveats. First,Flickr measures popularity on the basis of the number of users who'veuploaded a photo on a given day. In other words, the camera used by aperson who uploads one photo a day will fare better than one whouploads 100 pictures one day a month. Second, many camera phones don'tidentify themselves to Flickr, so their use isn't logged. Last, thesestatistics fluctuate daily, and who knows what kind of anomalousbehavior is going on during the holidays.
The total number of photos uploaded from the Rebel XTi is about51 million, compared with 5.8 million for the iPhone. However, thereare nearly 3,000 people uploading daily from their iPhone compared withabout 6,500 for the XTi.
My guess is the iPhone's better-than-average network abilitiesare responsible for the prominence. For the same reason, iPhone usersalso use Google Maps and other online services more than most mobiledevice users. The BlackBerry is good at e-mail, but the Internet hasother attractions.
What's more interesting is extrapolating from the trend.Certainly the iPhone's image quality doesn't hold a candle to even oldpoint-and-shoots, much less new SLRs, but the phone taps straight intothe social features of Flickr--theability to photographically share with friends and family what's goingon in your life, for example. There are innumerable expertphotographers at Flickr, but it looks like the yet larger herd ofordinary snapshooters are going to leave them in the dust onceliberated with the ability to post pictures at will.
I sent my iPhone photos to Flickr using the site's upload-by-e-mail service (see Yahoo's instructions),but there are several iPhone applications that will do it for you ifyou prefer. Apple's photo e-mailing software scales photos to 640x480,but I don't mind, given feeble image quality and the unlikelihood thatthese shots will ever make their way beyond a computer screen.