Apple has now sold its 1 billionth iPhone—Tim Cook made the announcement this morning at an employee meeting, according to the company. It is absolutely amazing that Apple has sold 1 billion iPhones in just 9 years.
“iPhone has become one of the most important, world-changing and successful products in history. It’s become more than a constant companion. iPhone is truly an essential part of our daily life and enables much of what we do throughout the day,” said Cook. “Last week we passed another major milestone when we sold the billionth iPhone. We never set out to make the most, but we’ve always set out to make the best products that make a difference. Thank you to everyone at Apple for helping change the world every day.”
I remember when the iPhone was first released and the excitement surrounding the device. It has changed my life in so many ways. It has made me more efficient and completely changed the way I communicate and work.
Congrats to all involved.
And remember how Steve Jobs said:
“What this tells you is, that 1 percent market share equals 10 million units.
This is a giant market.
If you get just one percent market share, you’re gonna sell 10 million phones.
And this is exactly what we’re gonna try to do in 2008, our first full year in the market, is grab 1 percent market share and go from there.”
My wife and I changed gears in 2014 when we bought our iPhone 6/6+ on AT&T’s then new Next program. Last year, we turned them in for the iPhone6S/6S+. And this year we’ll turn them in for the new ones. I’m already enjoying the iOS10 beta.
What’s up with saying “iPhone” instead of “the iPhone”?
“iPhone has become…” “iPhone is truly an essential…”
Just curious, I’ve noticed it before when Tim Cook talks about the iPhone or should I say iPhone?
Lol, well maybe a little snicker as not so much of a lol, but I believe als is taken.
I digress… Is there some reason I am unaware of?
I remember it well, like it was yesterday.
They’ve been doing this is in their press releases for years. They also don’t like to use apostrophes on their products (e.g. iMac’s display). It feels like there’s a PR 101 reason for this–besides minimalism–but I don’t know exactly what.
Yea, I’ve noticed it for years too but never asked.
The first time I noticed it was when Steve Jobs was talking about “iPhone” later on, after the introduction, I don’t think he did it then when he introduced it.
I thought it sounded odd but didn’t ask why.
Could it be a PR thing?
Or something about the way it sounds?
My theory: The syntax makes it sound like you’re saying a person’s name instead of a product name. Maybe it’s some kind of subtle familiarity angle?
I was just this morning remembering the phone I had before the iPhone. It was a tiny Motorola with 2 halves that swiveled/rotated instead of the usual flip phone. Cute design, and everything else about it drove me mad. Terrible, terrible interface if you tried to do anything as simple as add a contact. Also the talk time was rated as 20 minutes. Wow. How times have changed. (I still wish they’d activate telephony in the iPads. If the device has 4G, then telephony is just an app, after all. That’s my favorite device. I could use speaker phone or a headset to talk. It’s not as if anybody would hold the big-assed things up to their ears)
I think it has something to do with the same reason Brits like “I was in hospital” and not “I was in the hospital.” There are people who waste a lot of energy arguing that the 1st way is right. If you were a marketing person… and this issue was very very important to you, but you didn’t actually do all that well in English class, you might swallow the argument hook, line, and sinker, and then extend it to iPhone, etc. I think that’s what I’m seeing here.
(idea 2) Or maybe it’s to denote iPhone as a platform. We don’t talk about “the iOS”. We talk about “iOS”, Maybe that’s the usage he’s going for. Either way, though, yes it seems discordant to me too.
I am truly amazed at how the world was changed by one magnificent device. Congratulations Apple.
speaking of style guides, common style is to spell 1960s as the plural of that decade since it isn’t possessive. and ’60s is the abbreviated.
didn’t do all that well in English? that’s the British English form of grammar, and they happened to have invented the language.
I went to college.
I went to university.
I went to hospital.
…that being said, I don’t believe for a second that’s what Apple is doing here.
Damn. I knew that, too.
Actually, I not only did well in English, I also did well in logic. You just failed in both. (Look up “appeal to authority”; it’s a common and very tedious fallacy).
The Brit-American difference in usage has little to do with right or wrong, and more to do with consistency and perspective.
Consider the definite and indefinite articles. You might be surprised to know that some languages (like Ukrainian and Russian, which look nearly identical but aren’t) lack articles. Study of those languages prompts a reflection on the topic. In the USA, if you get run over by a car, you go to the hospital. In England, if you get run over by a car, you go to hospital. (I’m hoping never to find out what you do if you get run over by a car in Ukraine).
Brits think that our usage is incorrect, obviously. The argument goes like this: “You don’t say you go to the home, and you aren’t at the home. You go home, and you are at home. Same thing.”
According to them, saying “the hospital” is just another sign that Americans say stupid things without thinking. Which may or may not be the case. We’re actually more consistent than not, though. We go to the mall, for instance, and once there, we’re at the mall.
According to Mick Ashworth (a Brit, just for the record), people once preferred to add the article if the place name related to a geographical feature like a group of islands (Bahamas) a river (Congo), a desert (Sudan) or mountain range (Lebanon). So the Netherlands is ‘the low countries’. And as long as the meaning is clear, the article isn’t entirely useless. Sometimes it’s a relic of the past, for example the [administrative] capital of the Netherlands, The Hague, means ‘hedge’ or ‘haw’, hence The Hague with the article has been preserved.
This is not a minor point, because when Americans refer to “the hospital”, we mean something like that. It’s more a geographic location than anything else, and we’re in it, or at it.
Deutschland is “German Land,” so there wouldn’t be anything incorrect in using the definite article. There’s is no reason why “Deutschland” has no article and “The Netherlands” does. And yet, the one does and the other doesn’t. Which is right? Which is wrong? Ashworth (refreshingly, for someone talking about the fine points of grammar) shrugs it off. ”Sometimes the answer is more or less clear and sometimes not at all, just a tribute to a tradition of long standing.”
Exactly. Sometimes it’s just what you’re used to, in other words. The Brits aren’t any more right or wrong than the Americans.
For the record though, the American usage is more sensible. “The hospital” refers to a geographic location, whereas “hospital” makes it sound more like an experience. By leaving the article in, we retain the power that swapping between “the” and “a” gives us — and you don’t appreciate that power until you study a language where it’s not available.
And one more point:
I went to the mall.
I went to the store.
I went to the office.
Yeah, I can give examples too. Unlike you, though, I can also reason about why I use the words I use.