Slashdot Mirror
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.
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.
Look, I like my iPhone, but - I'm sure there are a myriad of products which have sold more than a billion units. Q-Tips and Reynolds Wrap are probably among that august group.
#DeleteChrome
Recent estimates put the Bible at 5 billion copies sold.
This. Something like 14 billion Big Mac's sold.
Also, if they are grouping all the different model Iphones together, doesn't Toyota, Michael Jackson, etc get to group all of their similar products under one count as Apple got to?
Seems like one of the most fraudulent claims heard this ____ (insert arbitrary date range here)
If they are counting all models of iPhone as one, they should count all Android phones as one too. In which case the iPhone is small fry - last year Android was estimated to have 1.4 billion active users.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Not to mention things like Blu Tac, Sellotape, a lot of brands of condoms, Bic Pens, most brands of cigarettes.
Those are consumables. If you only look at durable goods, and you multiply the number manufactured by the useful lifetime, then I nominate the AK-47. Over 100 million have been manufactured, and many are still in use after more than 60 years.
One Mr. Kalashnikov would like to remind you that he has (often literally) revolutionized substantially more territory than Apple has; and he only had to sell ~100 million units to do it!