Last November, I used a poll to determine my next smartphone. It was a three-way contest between the iPhone 4S, the HTC Titan Windows Phone and the Samsung Galaxy S II. I had suspected that the iPhone would have a strong showing followed closely by Android with Windows Phone pulling up the rear like Ron Paul.

But that isn’t quite what happened.

The iPhone 4S won decisively, that’s clear, but what was surprising was Windows Phone’s second place showing. How did that happen?

I think there are two key reasons. First, many voters were local Portlanders who are iconoclasts by nature, always very supportive of the underdog in situations. Second, was the curiosity factor of having me get the Windows Phone and report back on the experience. No one wants to be a guinea pig for new tech (unless it’s an Apple product) so why not make me do it!

There is also the fact that despite a meager share of the market (projected to be 6.2% by the end of 2012), Windows Phone is a generally well-reviewed platform. It’s elegant, vibrant and on the upcoming Lumia 900 from Nokia it’s downright sexy. So maybe people voted for it because it’s good. Could be?

But here I am, iPhone 4S in hand and ready to wax poetic about its virtues and shortcomings. But why did it take me so long to write this post? There were a number of factors including the holidays, CES and client work. But the biggest delay was the near impossibility of getting my hands on the device. After the poll closed I started calling around looking for a 64 gig black iPhone 4S and I might as well have been asking for a ’64 Pontiac XP 833 Banshee coupe. It wasn’t happening. I finally had to lean on family connections at Best Buy to scare one up, but that took two weeks. I had heard stories from friends who had ordered online and waited 3 weeks to a month to have their iPhones ship directly from the factory in China.

But I have to believe this shortage is manufactured. Apple’s supply chain is like a well-oiled machine and they knew this device would sell well. I think they rolled the dice on better marketing through scarcity. Even in Samsung’s commercial for the Galaxy S II deriding the apparent flaws in the iPhone and mocking Apple fanboys for waiting in line to get one, they inadvertently pointed out one important fact: People will wait in line and be terribly inconvenienced to get their hands on a device that they know is flawed.

Of course if you want the Samsung Galaxy S II, you don’t have to wait. But would you?

I won’t be able to answer that question for at least another 18 months and in the meantime I’ll provide my thoughts on why this device is so desirable to so many people. Now, it’s been covered from head to toe, so I plan to focus my thoughts on a few key areas of the user experience:

· The upgrade (from 3GS to 4S)
· iMessage
· iMatch
· iCloud

Stay with me over the next several weeks and please share your thoughts in the comments below.