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There were ~60M iPhone users when Jobs was the CEO. There are about ~1.4B right now. Both respectively accomplished very respectable things. It’s not selling fo

There were ~60M iPhone users when Jobs was the CEO. There are about ~1.4B right now. Both respectively accomplished very respectable things. It’s not selling for a quick buck if he was able to scale the business to such degrees. That being said, I agree that Apple makes a lot of wrongs.

trinix912 1y ago
Part of the appeal of Apple was that not everyone and their mom just had an Apple device. They heavily played on that, similar to how fashion does. That "exclusivity" (sort of) is gone now, and it shows with Apple trying to create likable, noncontroversial designs for the larger crowd. They try to make up for it with prices, but it misses the point.
- moomoo11 1y ago
  Apple became Gucci
- danaris 1y ago
  Maybe that was part of the appeal to you. To most of us, the appeal of Apple has always been primarily that it does what it does well. I don't think Apple themselves thinks their appeal depends on exclusivity, but rather on a premium experience.
- dghlsakjg 1y ago
  I promise you, in 2005, everyone and their mom had an iPod. If you couldn’t afford the full fat iPod, you bought any of the various cheaper stripped down models. If anything, Apple has gotten more exclusive through their pricing.
ZenoArrow 1y ago
> There are about ~1.4B right now. What are you basing this on, the total number of iPhones sold since 2007? If so, it doesn't account for the users that have bought multiple iPhones.
- jama211 1y ago
  One google shows that’s considered the “current active user” count, not total sales. 2.3 billion by Jan 2024 (so more now) is the estimate for total sales.
- tokioyoyo 1y ago
  I did quick Googling, and it sounded about right. Roughly 50% USA, 20% China, 50% Japan, 30% Europe, 3% India already is a big number.
  - lodovic 1y ago
    I used a llm to sum your percentages and counted only 785,644,479 people. That's just over half the 1.4B claim. However, it also linked to articles that showed that as of 2025, there are approximately 1.38 to 1.56 billion active iPhone users worldwide. So the percentages may be misleading but the number is correct.

trinix912 1y ago

Part of the appeal of Apple was that not everyone and their mom just had an Apple device. They heavily played on that, similar to how fashion does. That "exclusivity" (sort of) is gone now, and it shows with Apple trying to create likable, noncontroversial designs for the larger crowd. They try to make up for it with prices, but it misses the point.

moomoo11 1y ago
Apple became Gucci
danaris 1y ago
Maybe that was part of the appeal to you. To most of us, the appeal of Apple has always been primarily that it does what it does well. I don't think Apple themselves thinks their appeal depends on exclusivity, but rather on a premium experience.
dghlsakjg 1y ago
I promise you, in 2005, everyone and their mom had an iPod. If you couldn’t afford the full fat iPod, you bought any of the various cheaper stripped down models. If anything, Apple has gotten more exclusive through their pricing.

ZenoArrow 1y ago

> There are about ~1.4B right now. What are you basing this on, the total number of iPhones sold since 2007? If so, it doesn't account for the users that have bought multiple iPhones.

jama211 1y ago
One google shows that’s considered the “current active user” count, not total sales. 2.3 billion by Jan 2024 (so more now) is the estimate for total sales.
tokioyoyo 1y ago
I did quick Googling, and it sounded about right. Roughly 50% USA, 20% China, 50% Japan, 30% Europe, 3% India already is a big number.
- lodovic 1y ago
  I used a llm to sum your percentages and counted only 785,644,479 people. That's just over half the 1.4B claim. However, it also linked to articles that showed that as of 2025, there are approximately 1.38 to 1.56 billion active iPhone users worldwide. So the percentages may be misleading but the number is correct.