10 ms·
Why 9:41 AM is always the time displayed on iPhones and iPads
- Sharlin 13y agoI wonder if it's a coincidence that 1, 4 and 9 are also the squares of the first three natural numbers. And, consequently, of course the relative dimensions of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monolith_%28Space_Odyssey%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monolith_%28Space_Odyssey%29
- logicallee 13y agoYes, of course it is a coincidence. If it weren't - 1:49 is a time too...
- Someone 13y ago<nerdy>And prime, just like 941, 419, and 491 (only a time in late 18th century France). With one even digit, this is the best one can do. I don't think you can do better with three odd digits, either unless you cheat with the triple (1,1,3) If you stick to squares, 01:49 is the best, though, with the squares of the first four natural numbers, in order.<nerdy/>
- Sharlin 13y agoI'm honestly a bit surprised by the downvotes. 1:49 would obviously not fit the other constraints involved, and seeing how Apple is known for their eye for details and the pop-cultural significance of the 1:4:9 ratio, I'm surprised if someone didn't at least think of this when choosing between 9:40, 9:41 and 9:42...
- dfc 13y agoThe article explains why 9:40 is not used. As far as the downvotes go, HN is--thankfully--somewhat anti-numerology.
- Sharlin 13y agoYes, thankfully. However, in this case, the fact that numerology even exists is exactly the reason to at least entertain the possibility that other motives exist beyond the practical one: people like patterns.
- gjm11 13y agoI don't see that there's anything numerological about the suggestion that Apple might have worked into their publicity for the iPhone and iPad some allusions to ... a science-fictional black cuboidal artefact containing mysterious highly-advanced technology that changes the world. (For the avoidance of doubt, I'm not claiming that they did. It could very well be no more than coincidence. But it doesn't seem all that far-fetched to me that there might have been a conversation like this: "OK, we should set the time to somewhere around 9:40 for these pictures." "Hey, if we make it 9:41 then there's a cute 2001 allusion in there." "Ha, iPhone as the monolith from 2001. I like it. Let's go with that." And there's no need to believe in numerology to find this plausible.)
- Sharlin 13y agoExactly my train of thought. Should've probably elaborated a bit in the original post.
- raimue 13y agoHTC used to have an iconic clock on their Android handset, for which they always used 10:08 in marketing materials. This probably stems from a tradition in advertisements for analog watches. They are usually set to some time between 10:08 and 10:10. Not only is this setting symmetric and therefore pleasing to the eye, but also any printed brand name is clearly visible and unobstructed.
- cschmidt 13y agoThe New York Times had a whole article on why watch ads are at 10:10: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/28/business/media/28adco.html http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/28/business/media/28adco.html
- 001sky 13y agoAlso, rendering 10.10 is inelegant in many fonts, whilst 9.41 has alot more balance and variety purely from a typesetting perspective. That's a good article on the analogue side, though.
- Orangeair 13y agoAn interesting note about 10:08 is that on a 12 hour digital clock, it represents the most bars which can be simultaneously illuminated.
- Aloha 13y agoTMYK - I love stuff like this :-P
- jarjoura 13y agoWhy was this comment down-voted?
- dang 13y agoProbably for not being substantive, made worse by abbrevs and smilies. HN users tend to punish throwaway one-liners, unless they show signs of thought having been put into them. It's arguably too harsh, because some of these comments are innocuous. But the same immune reation also keeps more malignant things from taking over, so overall it does more good than harm.
- Aloha 13y agoIt's not like the original article was chock full of substance in the first place, which is why its even more annoying.
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- netcan 13y agoImagine having to reprint brochures, reshoot something or even have to tinker around with the clock so all your screenshots are 9:41. There are cute quirks and there is attention to detail. But at some point or another it becomes a cultish bureaucracy no one knows the origin of demanding that all clocks alway show 9:41 for some long lost reason.
- im3w1l 13y agoIn my experience people love quirky details performed for long lost reasons. They are central to our culture and identity creation. Take Santa Claus on Christmas dressing in red and saying hohoho, and entering through the chimney. Why not a blue woman squeezing through a tiny crack in the wall and saying neeneeneeneenee? EDIT: Didn't downvote you btw
- AznHisoka 13y agoit's cute, but pointless. probably contributes close to nothing in terms of revenue.
- oceanplexian 13y agoAnd that's exactly why Apple is the world's most valuable brand. Attention to detail, even if it doesn't directly generate revenue can have profound effects that will never be discovered in an A/B test or by crunching financials. Unfortunately most tech companies (and businesses in general) don't understand this.
- AznHisoka 13y agoyes, but it's nothing to be written about or discussed. lots of startups do this and they get no attention
- 15characterlimi 13y agoBut probably costs next to nothing in terms of time. Look at all the companies we're discussing just in this thread. Why does everything have to be only in terms of revenue?
- EC1 13y agoAnywhere else I have ever worked has pretty much always used 4:20 in the UI as a joke. When I started work as UI/UX lead at a bank a year ago, all the process work that was done with the previous team had some arrangement of 4:20 worked in everywhere haha.
- userbinator 13y agoI've done the same with 13:37.
- pxlpshr 13y agoNot exactly original. And depending on who's looking at the material, it could be considered offensive. If you get away with it, great but some companies like USAA require all employees and contractors pass drug tests so suggesting the universal stoner hour might not be the best decision. There's a reason designers use lorem ipsum in mockups – it's because once upon a time a designer thought they were clever with their fake text, and an account manager had to deal with a pissed off client because of what it said.
- jsmthrowaway 13y ago> And depending on who's looking at the material, it could be considered offensive. If you get away with it, great but some companies like USAA require all employees and contractors pass drug tests so suggesting the universal stoner hour might not be the best decision. Just to be clear, you're saying that: - The time "4:20" might be offensive to a reader, - I should, for some reason, care about this, - USAA's decision to drug test employees is relevant. Did I misinterpret you there? You're basically advocating for removing the 13th floor from elevators because someone might get scared or have their feelings hurt. Or designing a system that applies a penny discount to subtotals that end up at $6.66, $66.66, and so forth (I have heard of this). 4:20 is just a time. And I'm suspicious of your explanation for Lorem Ipsum's usage, as well, given how long it has existed and how long it has been in use.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
- elsamuko 13y agoAnother story, why casio watches are always at 10:58:50 https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=casio+digital&tbm=isch https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=casio+digital&tbm=isch http://mygshock.com/wiki/Trivia#Why_do_all_Casio_promotional_photos_show_10:58_as_the_time.3F http://mygshock.com/wiki/Trivia#Why_do_all_Casio_promotional...
- 205guy 13y agoI think the article missed some very interesting aspects of this story. First of all, why bother setting the time in the first place? I think it's because having many different times in different ads/websites/docs looks sloppy. There's also the chance of someone working late (2:00 am) or having a strange time such as 20:02 or 11:11. These are very minor but could be distracting in high-profile ads or consistent docs. Much simpler to just say that all time displays will be a simple 9:41 (time 0 in the age of the iPhone, essentially). I would be more interested in how they implement this. I assume there is an internal style guide somewhere mandating the use of 9:41. But are people who make the images (photographers, marketing, web team, doc writers) supposed to set the devices (or their clocks) manually? Do they have corporate photoshop scripts for setting the time in "post-production?" Maybe there are test settings (later removed for shipped code) that allow the time to be "frozen" so all screenshots look natural at the desired time. Can anyone inside Apple tell us?
- dinkumthinkum 13y agoThat just seems too anal retentive, though, doesn't it?
- borski 13y agoThis is Apple we're talking about. Anal retentive is what they're all about, down to the last pixel. It isn't a bad thing.
- ChrisClark 13y agoGoogle also uses specific times in their screenshots. But the times match up with the version of Android it is running.
- msoad 13y agoWow! You are right http://www.android.com/versions/kit-kat-4-4/ http://www.android.com/versions/kit-kat-4-4/
- plorg 13y agoThat only appears to go back a couple versions. For example, times in ICS screenshots are all over the place: http://www.android.com/versions/ice-cream-sandwich-4-0/ http://www.android.com/versions/ice-cream-sandwich-4-0/
- notatoad 13y agoit seems to be valid for the official press photos of the nexus device corresponding to the android version, at least as far back as the Nexus S at 2:30.
- echeese 13y agoHoly crap: http://www.android.com/new/images/banners/meet1-1200.jpg http://www.android.com/new/images/banners/meet1-1200.jpg
- cowls 13y agoOne clock on that page says 4:30. I wader if they reused an image from an earlier version?
- ISL 13y agoHow better to version the screenshots? Clever.
- _nedR 13y agoIMHO, this is indeed a much more of a real and clever usage of the clock in screenshots. But since its not related to the brainchild of Apple or Steve Jobs, your observation is most likely to languish in the comments section of this article rather than the front page of Hacker news.
- anonymfus 13y agoNokia usually uses model numbers. 9:20 for Lumia 920, for example.
- sebbean 13y agocan someone answer why 4:20?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- mcphilip 13y agoDrug culture reference: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/420_(cannabis_culture) http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/420_(cannabis_culture)
- Stratoscope 13y agoMy favorite 420 reference is California Senate Bill 420. The bill was introduced by John Vasconcellos, who was certainly one of the coolest heads in the State Senate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Senate_Bill_420 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Senate_Bill_420
- Ellipsis753 13y agoHehe. Interesting and kind of strange. If it's so important that the screen-shot shows the current time when it is displayed why not just have it show the correct time with a program? It doesn't seem like that would be terribly difficult.
- lostlogin 13y agoThere is a poster on the wall of the shop I walk past occasionally. This is in print media too, and having the same advert on TV, print and web probably is something Apple likes.
- Ellipsis753 13y agoFair enough. Yes. I guess I guess I can understand it being nice to always use a standard time. It would be really awesome if whenever there was an advert on TV if the iPhone showed the current time. However with the scheduling of TV ads I don't think this is really possible.
- leccine 13y agoMine has 4:20PM all the time. Does anybody know how to fix?
- brokentone 13y agoI once setup all of the times in our app screenshots to be the octal representation of our company name. i.e. 1:02 - b 1:14 - l 1:01 - a 1:32 - z 1:05 - e
- adnrw 13y agoHere is a 2010 article, also on TUAW, about the same thing: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/04/12/9-41-9-42-the-secret-of-apples-reoccurring-numbers/ http://www.tuaw.com/2010/04/12/9-41-9-42-the-secret-of-apple...
- lukashed 13y agoI love these little details. I remember walking past the billboard in front of a not-yet-opened Samsung store that showed the Galaxy Gear and some other Galaxy Smartphones. All devices had different times on them.
- parisidau 13y agoOur original blog post, if anyone is interested in the original source: http://www.secretlab.com.au/ipad-day-941-am http://www.secretlab.com.au/ipad-day-941-am
- jarjoura 13y agoActually, OS X releases up until Snow Leopard the clock was set to the version of the OS. 10:10 for OS X 10.1 for example.
- lugg 13y agoI don't see anyone has discussed it yet, could it be an advertising technique? You can create a cognitive bias in this fashion, by showing a high number like 941 the customer is less likely to balk at a sale price in the high hundreds. Where if they were pre-exposed to a low number say 3.15 they will probably find a 900 dollar price tag too much. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_bias http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_bias Another thought is maybe that 9.41 is a lot of peoples reading in bed time, or taking notes in a meeting at work time. Easy to picture yourself using one at those times. Or maybe its just a clean number that shows the correct orientation of the tablet/phone if you read it upside down
- a3_nm 13y agoSimilarly, Free (the ill-named ISP and mobile phone provider run by Iliad in France) uses "13:37" on most ads as a geek joke (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet).
- ozh 13y agoand "Rock n' Roll" is the welcome message on the device. Gotta love that :)