Although the lack of a physical keyboard “was supposed to be a deal breaker for hardcore smartphone users in the business world,” suggests Philip Elmer-DeWitt (fortune.cnn.com), iPhone “ranks highest in customer satisfaction among business types, according to J.D. Power and Associates’ second annual survey of smartphone users. Apple’s device easily outscored phones with physical keys made by RIM, Samsung, HTC, and Motorola.”

“This is a stunner for Apple and its iPhone,” declares Jim Goldman (cnbc.com). “JD Power and Associates,” he explains, “ranked the iPhone highest in customer satisfaction, not for everyday consumers as you might expect. But for ‘business wireless smartphone users.’” It led the survey “with a score of 778 out of 1,000, ‘performing particularly well in the ease of operation, physical design and handset factors.’“

In leading the J.D. Power survey, “iPhone did particularly well in ease of operation, physical design and handset feature factors,” explains Shawn Brown (slashgear.com). Brown quotes Kirk Parsons, Senior Director of for J.D. Power, who said that ‘by making basic applications and features easy to use and providing functionality in a thin, lightweight device, Apple has performed well in exceeding customer expectations.”

In its survey of business customers, J.D. Power and Associates “asked respondents to rate the smartphones for ease of operation, operating system, physical design, handset features, and battery aspects,” reports Tom Krazit (cnet.com). And the iPhone, “which generated the highest amount of customer satisfaction among smartphone-using businesspeople,” earned perfect rankings in four of the five categories.”

“Apple’s blowout quarter for iPhone 3G sales lifted it into second place among all smartphone vendors worldwide,” says cnet.com’s Tom Krazit. Trailing only market leader Nokia, iPhone vaulted “over Research In Motion to take second place, with 6.9 million shipments, or 17.3 percent of the market.” Apple also shipped more iPhones “than all the Windows Mobile devices shipped worldwide by Microsoft’s partners.”

When friends or relatives come to visit this holiday season, you can easily grant them guest access on your Mac. With a guest account, they can get email, surf the web, or download a file. You can even set parental controls for younger guests. To find out how you can grant guest access to visitors in a few simple steps, watch the latest Quick Tip of the Week.

Interviewing guitarist Dave Keuning prior to the release of The Killers’ new album, Ben Rogerson (musicradar.com) learned that “ the band’s hotly-anticipated third album Day & Age was demoed in Apple’s Logic.” In fact, each member of the band “recorded demos separately in Logic, which allowed us to email our ideas to each other and to Stuart Price, the producer.”

NPD announced today that iPhone 3G “surpassed Motorola’s RAZR as the leading handset purchased by adult consumers” last quarter, reports Jim Goldman (cnbc.com). “That’d be a big deal no matter when it happened, but it ends RAZR’s 12-quarter winning streak as the nation’s top handset.”

“Move over, Motorola,” says Alana Semuels (latimes.com) iPhone has become the top selling handset in the U.S. “Consumers are buying more iPhones than RAZRs because there is a ‘watershed shift in handset design from fashion to fashionable functionality,’ said Ross Rubin, NPD’s director of industry analysis.”