Those who use and love Instagram are locked to their iPhones in far tighter fashion than any contract could ever manage. Just ask someone whose Instagrams show up regularly in your Facebook or Twitter feed; they’ll tell you they’re incapable of using a phone that doesn’t have the service. Yes, Instagram is where your friends drop photos of their lunch. But it’s more than that: It’s a real-time window that peers out into the wide world. It’s where millions post photos of revolutions, riots, the ugly, the beautiful, and the banal. Abandon the iPhone and that window slams shut. And that’s a powerful incentive to stay put.
— Inside Instagram: How Slowing Its Roll Put the Little Startup in the Fast Lane
