Despite reports of disappointed customers who were hoping for an iPhone 5 instead of an iPhone 4S, they are being snapped up. The iPhone 4S may prove to be Apple’s most successful device to date, with 1.7 million units presold within the first three days of launch. Apple has blown all other smartphone companies out of the water, as illustrated by this graph comparing iPhone to Blackberry shipments, once the top-selling smartphone in the US.

iPhone shipments have completely overtaken Blackberry shipments

Apple certainly isn’t the first company to develop a smartphone. So why is the iPhone so popular? Certainly an iPhone has many perks: ease of use, sleek design, and fast browsing. However, Apple’s point of difference is that it developed a platform that supports a wide variety of applications (apps), as shown by the ridiculous number of videos on the web that feature these apps.

http://youtu.be/rNsrl86inpo

Apps can developed for literally anything, from cooking to shopping to airport check-ins. You name it, there’s an app for that. People are increasingly mobile and use their smartphones and apps to get what they need, whether it be groceries or directions. The future is in apps, and Apple is paving the way.