Why iPhones Are So Popular

[visualAd]

Its a good phone; I don't really want the flexibility the Linux brings in a phone, just the ability to make phone calls and use other features like camera and email, etc.

[moonman239]

I wish to post something about it. But I don't have an iPhone at all.

Anyway, if you wish to ask me my opinion about iPhone, you better send me one on or before this Christmas, to try it out.

I have started accepting all kinds of gifts like iPads, iPhones, iPods, or anything that starts with the letter "i".

I think the quality of the product is what it makes so popular. Another fact is that, people like you and me are posting comments, sharing news about the latest "i" products, etc. praising it's features and providing free advertising for them, which inturn increases it's popularity.

An iPhone was on my wish list, and then I got one for my birthday this year! One more thing I should be grateful for.

Your last paragraph sums up what I said in my first post nicely.

[capsulecorpjx]

The iPhone 4, 3GS and 4S are the most popular smartphones in that order. Why?

1) Simplicity. A lot of people want a smartphone with as small of a learning curve as possible - in other words, one that "just works."Apple prides itself in delivering that phone. For example, I can switch between apps simply by double-tapping the home button, swiping left or right if necessary, then tapping the app. I didn't have to tweak the phone so I could do that.

2) Siri (iPhone 4S) is currently the only "personal assistant" I am aware of that is available on a cellphone.

3) Some people have or had an iPad or an iPod touch. So using an iPhone is even easier than it would be if they didn't have an iDevice. Plus, the apps that work on an iPod touch also work on an iPhone.

That's my list of reasons.

I think it's more to do with:
1) Hardware design (iPhone 4's glass and metal case feels like jewerly, other phones are made of plastic). Even the shape feels classier (the rounded corners,but straight sides).
2) iTunes and the appstore. Even if you don't buy music, the huge number of free podcasts and university lectures are appealing, along with free apps.
The android stores seem a bit more fragmented? I'm not too certain as I haven't used it.
3) Lets be honest, Google did outright steal most of Apple's intuitive designs (or at least the Apple developer who designed it), like the swipes and zooms.

[baja_yu]

1. Not all phones are plastic... unless it's Samsung, then yes, they're all plastic
2. Android has waaaay more free apps. Even Angry Birds is free on Android.
3. Are you seriously suggesting that Apple invented swiping?! And they didn't "swipe" anything from Google, like the notification center for example, or wireless syncing. And not to mention what other platforms like Symbian did yeeears before Apple even considered making a phone. Everyone 'borrowed' from everyone, but only Apple stoops to being a pissy cry baby about it, all the while doing the same thing to others.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Only the users, not the company, as far as I can see. They used to complain about Windows, too. They seem to feel that you should have special rights if you were the first to steal something.

[baja_yu]

Only the users, not the company, as far as I can see. They used to complain about Windows, too. They seem to feel that you should have special rights if you were the first to steal something.

Not according to the latest biography: http://www.macrumors.com/2011/10/20/...stroy-android/

Actually, when you think about it, throughout Apple's existence they always had some "supervillan" they hated and wanted to destroy. First it was IBM, the beige big brother, then it was Bill Gates and Microsoft who "stole Windows and everything else" from them, and now it's Google.

[FunkyDexter]

They seem to feel that you should have special rights if you were the first to steal something.

Hey! That's a fine British tradition. We built an empire on that basis.

[visualAd]

An then when they give it back, sue them for stealing our way of life? Nice one

[lehgzil]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5529ghwysM made a good laugh.

[akhileshbc]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5529ghwysM made a good laugh.

[tudordavies]

I just think people like the iPhone because of the Apple brand. Everything about the Apple brand is slick and stylish and this translates into their products.

[SJWhiteley]

Are iPhones still popular? This thread is sooo March. I thought the Samsug Galazy Tabz was all the rage...

[KiwiDexter]

The iPhone 4, 3GS and 4S are the most popular smartphones in that order. Why?

1) Simplicity. A lot of people want a smartphone with as small of a learning curve as possible - in other words, one that "just works."Apple prides itself in delivering that phone. For example, I can switch between apps simply by double-tapping the home button, swiping left or right if necessary, then tapping the app. I didn't have to tweak the phone so I could do that.

2) Siri (iPhone 4S) is currently the only "personal assistant" I am aware of that is available on a cellphone.

3) Some people have or had an iPad or an iPod touch. So using an iPhone is even easier than it would be if they didn't have an iDevice. Plus, the apps that work on an iPod touch also work on an iPhone.

That's my list of reasons.

4) It's a fashion accessory dumbed down so valley girls can use it to spout meaningless dribble to each other.

[venerable bede]

I don't get all the fuss about Siri. Even if it was an actual person with an IQ of 150, assigned to sit there and server only my request whenever I want it to, I still think talking to a device is stupid. It's slower, prone to errors and most importantly you look like a douche.

I talk to myself all the time.

[venerable bede]

Yes he does. He is also a douche !

[techgnome]

You want to know why they are so popular? They just freakin' work. Plain and simple. They just work. You take it out of the box, juice it up, turn it on, register it... and bam! there you go. In the land of the normal folk, it's freakin' magic and it just works. Most of the time.

-tg

[baja_yu]

As opposed to other phones that you have to assemble by yourself? Maybe if IKEA ever enters the market

[szlamany]

You take it out of the box, juice it up, turn it on, register it...

So did my old rotary phone

[techgnome]

The typical public doesn't get driod... it comes across as a geeky tech toy... iPhone demystified it... it automatically synchs with people's iTunes ...

-tg

OH... and Apples knows marketing...

[techgnome]

So did my old rotary phone

Really? All I had to do with mine was take it out of the box and plug it in...

-tg

on an unrelated note, I'm still amused by memories of my friend's use of an acoustic 300baud modem back in the day....

[szlamany]

I remember how happy we were when 1200 baud came out!

Back in the mid 80's we had customers in Toronto and the Canadian border officials would not let me bring a VT55 terminal into the country thinking I was going to sell it! Had to leave it with them and get it back when I returned at the end of the week.

Not so bad - that meant I couldn't work late hours in the hotel - only when the office was actually open!

I can't imagine traveling with dumb-terminals and modems today!

btw - the VT55 was an upgrade to the VT50. It had 24 lines of 80 characters each - the VT50 had only 12 lines (same screen size - just skipped a line).

[dilettante]

I'm amazed at how dumb the things sold as "smart phones" are these days. More like an MP3 player or a fishfinder than a Star Trek tricorder.

[penagate]

The typical public doesn't get driod... it comes across as a geeky tech toy...

I see about as many "typical public" with Android phones as I do with iPhones now. In my opinion neither of them quite "just work" but the iPhone is much better at it...

[moonman239]

I remember how happy we were when 1200 baud came out!

Back in the mid 80's we had customers in Toronto and the Canadian border officials would not let me bring a VT55 terminal into the country thinking I was going to sell it! Had to leave it with them and get it back when I returned at the end of the week.

Not so bad - that meant I couldn't work late hours in the hotel - only when the office was actually open!

I can't imagine traveling with dumb-terminals and modems today!

That's funny

I wonder what happened to those computers. Does anyone still own them, or have they been destroyed? If people still own them, do they use it or does it collect dust in the attic?

I would think either a) nobody owns one or b) those who do are letting it collect dust. Then again, some people still own and use N64's

[baja_yu]

iPhone do sync easier when it comes to music, videos, books... But, ONLY if you do everything through Apple and their iTunes. If you want anything else, then it doesn't just work. Sometimes it doesn't work at all.

On an unrelated matter, people that praise Apple/Jobs/iPhone yet still jailbreak their phones should look up the definition of the word: irony. And know that Steve hates you.

[moonman239]

iPhone do sync easier when it comes to music, videos, books... But, ONLY if you do everything through Apple and their iTunes. If you want anything else, then it doesn't just work. Sometimes it doesn't work at all.

Actually, there are programs you can download, such as DiskAid. It may take some time to learn how to use them, but there are other options. Your computer does, however, have to have the Apple Mobile Device driver. For that, you can install iTunes, then remove everything that was installed except for driver-related files. I'm not exactly sure what files you can delete besides itunes.exe

[techgnome]

Actually, there are programs you can download, such as DiskAid. It may take some time to learn how to use them, but there are other options. Your computer does, however, have to have the Apple Mobile Device driver. For that, you can install iTunes, then remove everything that was installed except for driver-related files. I'm not exactly sure what files you can delete besides itunes.exe

And how many typical users are going to do all that? None. That's precicely what I was talking about. iPhones simply work.

-tg

[InvisibleDuncan]

And how many typical users are going to do all that? None. That's precicely what I was talking about. iPhones simply work.

-tg

I must have misunderstood that. I thought moonie was saying that those are the hoops you have to get an iPhone to jump through in order to do what an Android phone does straight out of the box - download music from somewhere other than iTunes.

[techgnome]

Now that I re-read it... I think I'm the one that mis-read it and you maybe right. Even still... that's a lot of work for someone in the typical target user group, of which none of us are.

But I still stand by my assertion that the reason iPhones are so popular is their integration with iTunes and the iCloud. If you think about it, it's a great long term strategy.... first create a desktop application that allows you to buy and download songs off the internet. Oh, and it will search out all media on your computer and organize it into a library in one place.
Next, release a player that will integrate with this new app, allowing you to buy, organize and transfer media to this new portable device. Step 3, market the heck out of it. Make it sleek, sexy and desirable. Next, take that player, and turn it into a phone, along with the same integration with the app.
Then you introduce the cloud storage. Now your phone, your tablet and your computer at home, are pretty much all in sync.
And it all just works.

My wife has an iTouch... and quite simply, she enjoys the simplicity of being able to plug it into her computer, fire up iTunes, shuffle a few thigns around, and disconnect. To be honest, I like it too... one less thing I have to futz with on the network.

-tg

[thebuffalo]

iPhones have facetime, thats the only thing that makes them better than Android, hands down. I have an Android phone and it is faster, handles more apps and stays fast, has better battery life, and takes better picutres than all of my friends iPhones.

[akhileshbc]

iPhones have facetime, thats the only thing that makes them better than Android, hands down. I have an Android phone and it is faster, handles more apps and stays fast, has better battery life, and takes better picutres than all of my friends iPhones.

Which phone are you using ?

[thebuffalo]

HTC MyTouch2 Slide 3g

[akhileshbc]

HTC MyTouch2 Slide 3g

Thanks

[ThEiMp]

Now hey does anyone remember the stupid idiot thing that was called: The Acorn Computer. Now that was totally rancid, in deed. Now wasn't it. Glad that I didn't own one, but then program one then, I did at primary school, like through the programming language of Logotron Logo!! That was the day that the only thing in the computer room, that was making the noise was the dasiy train printer. That was the stuff of hell spawned monsters, and then the nightmares of the youth of the world, at the past days gone by!! However all of this is going into the one thing, the iPhone is a now, thing and then not gonna be around like it was, in this time. It will then be able to do virtual modes, of games for example billards table pool. Where you take a cue tip and then wack it down on the other player's head!!

For example, I was only kidding. Because I am being totally ludicrious. The iPhone sux, totally. And then that makes the whole thing totally unbareable to the fact, of the matter at hand...

By the time that the iPhone is then made good again, then that will be the time that we have the Cell Mobile Phones, implanted into your brains and then we use them from that way of talking and then communicating. We will then be charged by the second/minute for face to face contact, with each other and the families of our life on this mother earth...

[ThEiMp]

Have you heard that there is a processor that is a lot more lower voltage that the iPhone is capable of??? They are going to work it into the mobile devices, that use alot of power because of the fact of the matter, is that they will then be able to consume even lower amounts of energy and then be able to be alot more friendlier on the battery, of this day and age!!

[baja_yu]

Have you heard that there is a processor that is a lot more lower voltage that the iPhone is capable of??? They are going to work it into the mobile devices, that use alot of power because of the fact of the matter, is that they will then be able to consume even lower amounts of energy and then be able to be alot more friendlier on the battery, of this day and age!!

Exactly! Of this day and age.

[ThEiMp]

Also a mobile phone feels like jewelery, because of the fact that some kind of person turned it into a fashion peice of @#$%, but then it looks like a jewelery kind of thing to me, because of the fact of what they can do, or even not do right, about now...

The SmartPhones, cannot play music, voice and also sound effects when playing their stupid 100kb games and apps. They are only able to do this when there isn't a some shape or form of displacer between the three fields of audio, music, voice and then effects...

[baja_yu]

Yeah. Displacers of some shapes or forms are a (female dog).

[ThEiMp]

Also iPhone is really just a cell phone with a camera attached to it. It does all the same stuff, as well it tells people where you are in the world. If I couldn't be found, using any other process of illiimation. The fact that the iPhone is selling, is that it is telling people that it has something new, but really it doesn't in deed...