We went from being nickel and dimed on minutes and SMS with unlimited data to being nickel and dimed on data with unlimited minutes and SMS.
That is how the iPhone changed the market for the better at least in the UK and even if you don't have one. Competitive pressure may have caused it to happen eventually but we can all thank Steve Jobs for speeding up that important change.
And for manufactures it opened the way for software to overtake hardware as defining feature of a phone, a massive structural shift in the industry IMO.
Feature phones are Dead. Traditional Phone Manufactures are on life support. Blackberry is dead, Nokia is losing their shirt, they are losing money. Samsung and Apple together are taking 103% of the profits in the industry. Hey, that doesn't add up? Well, because the competitors are at -3%.
The app ecosystem has paid out $15B+ in revenue to developers. This is a fundamental market shift for phone application developers.
These are fundamental and important shifts in the mobile industry.
I'd actually argue that the quote above is substantively correct (in the US).
2006: Phones are sold largely on contract, by various retailers, including the manufacturer; churn is driven largely on pricing, network performance, and network-effect factors.
2014: Phones are sold largely on contract, by various retailers, including the manufacturer; churn is driven largely on pricing, network performance, and network-effect factors.
The iPhone changed the experience of using the mobile phone, and what we did on our mobile phones - not how we buy them, nor did the change the base reason people switch carriers - not in the long game anyhow, people still switch because of dissatisfaction with their existing provider, or that the grass appears greener on the other side.