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The Most Popular Product Of All Time

Apple announced Wednesday that it has sold more than one billion iPhones. To understand the magnitude of the milestone, Asymco's Horace Dediu has compiled a list of the best-selling products across several categories. From his post (link shared via email by reader JoshTops):Car model: VW Beetle 21.5 million; car brand: Toyota Corolla 43 million; music album: Thriller 70 million; vehicle: Honda Super Cub 87 million; book title: Lord of the Rings 150 million; toy: Rubik's Cube 350 million; game console: Playstation 382 million; book series: Harry Potter Series 450 million; mobile phone: iPhone 1 billion.
The iPhone is not only the best-selling mobile phone but also the best selling music player, the best-selling camera, the best-selling video screen and the best-selling computer of all time. It is, quite simply, the best-selling product of all time. It is that because it is so much more than a product. It is an enabler for change. It unleashed forces which we are barely able to perceive, let alone control. It changed the world because it changed us. And it did all that in less than nine years.
Update: 07/28 20:07 GMT by M :Dediu just told me that the list doesn't include consumable non-durable products.

3 of 367 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Big Mac by buck-yar · · Score: 4, Informative

    Errata- Looks like its more like 400 billion Big Macs (estimated), but they stopped counting.

  2. Re:Made in the USA by lgw · · Score: 3, Informative

    And I can't wait for the Trumpers to jump on the fact none were built in Merica!

    I often wonder if the people who post stuff like this are the same people who complain about H-1Bs. I suspect so.

    If someone is unemployed, and would like products consumed in America to be built in America, so that he might have a better chance to get a job, well, I disagree but I have to respect where he's coming from. Mocking people like that is why we have Trump.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  3. Re:Planed obsolescence! by Karlt1 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yes, bitches!
    Planned obsolescence works !

    Apple supports their phones with updates longer than any other manufacturer. Even without updates, you can still use a first generation iPhone today.

    Yup, indeed. It's not a product, it's fashion. And like with all designer clothes, you need to perpetually throw the old ones away and buy new ones !

    Apple has been selling basically the same form factor -- the iPhone 5 for over four years.

    - Call me when a car maker start to require you to replace your car every 24months (replacing the whole car, I mean. Literally. Not over billing you for a simple software update over some proprietary extension to the ODB port that they charge metaphorically as expensive as a new car).

    Not only does Apple not force you to replace their phone every 24 months. If you bought an iPhone 4s in September of 2011, you are still receiving updates.

    - Call me when you need to replace a music record record every few month... no... wait... Okay, the whole purpose of adding DRM to music and introducing a new format every once in a while is exactly for that. So I'll concede the point.

    Apple hasn't sold DRM'd music since 2008.