iPhone 4S Release Date: Fans Wonder if '4S' Is a Tribute Meaning '4 Steve Jobs'
As Apple, Inc. officially made the iPhone 4S available for purchase in stores Friday morning, rumors have been circulating among enthusiasts that the technology company actually named the new iPhone device in tribute to its late CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs. The "4S," fans say, might actually mean "4 Steve Jobs."
Fans lined up the night before, some even days before, in anticipation of the iPhone 4S going on sale today at Apple stores across the U.S. and around the world. The first person on line at the the Los Gatos, Calif., Apple store was the company's co-founder, Steve Wozniak, seen sitting in a chair and tinkering with his iPad.
Even as the new iPhone went on sale Friday, Apple kept on its homepage a tribute to Jobs, which was first posted on its website on Wednesday, Oct. 5, the day the former CEO died. Jobs had stepped down from his CEO position in August, with Tim Cook stepping in to take over the chief executive position. Jobs passed away just one day after Cook announced the new iPhone 4S at an event at the company's headquarters.
Some fans interpreted these activities as a sign that perhaps, instead of releasing an iPhone 5, the company purposefully released an iPhone 4S, with the "4S" actually meaning "4 Steve Jobs."
Apple has not commented on the conjecture, but that has not kept fans from sharing the information as fact in their Twitter feeds, with many offering thanks to Jobs for helping to produce so many elegant and useful products.
Some fans of the tech guru, who feel the world has lost one of the greatest minds in the technology world, might not care very much if Apple actually intended the "4S" to mean "4 Steve Jobs." In their minds, it is a fitting tribute.
Customers streaming into Apple stores around the nation have been adding to memorials set up for Jobs outside of some locations, such as this Apple store in Palo Alto, Texas and at the Fifth Avenue Apple store in New York City.
