A study released by M:Metrics, the mobile media authority, says things have not been the same since the iPhone came on the market. Not only has it become one of the most popular and successful devices of its kind to date, but it has also changed and encouraged Web use on mobile devices for 85 percent of its users.

Mark Donovan, senior analyst with M:Metrics said: “The iPhone has certainly delivered on its hype. Beyond a doubt, this device is compelling consumers to interact with the mobile Web, delivering off-the-charts usage from everything to text messaging to mobile video.”

Having a device that offers such a large number of widgets makes users want to use them, so the iPhone seems to have a lot to do with mobile content consumption. For example, YouTube and Google Maps are among the iPhone’s most popular destinations (over 30 percent of the users for YouTube and 36 percent for Google Maps).

The study also unveiled that 30.9 percent of the iPhone users watch video or TV on their device, compared to the 4.6 market average. In January this year, 49.7 percent of the iPhone users accessed a social networking site, twelve times the market average.

It seems like Apple also manages to create dependency with its products: eighty four percent of the iPhone owners who also own an MP3 player use an iPod. At the same time, the study confirmed that the average iPhone user is male aged 25-34, earns over $100,000 and has a college degree.

“In addition to the attributes of the device itself, another important factor to consider is the fact that all iPhones on AT&T are attached to an unlimited data plan,” Donovan added. Our data shows that once the fear of surprise data charges is eliminated, mobile content consumption increases dramatically, regardless of device.”