Certified pre-owned must be a momentary lapse of inspired marketing thought when inspiration could not be boosted through the use of a needle, pill or inhaling smoke.  I’m not sure if Apple coined the phrase or if the car industry did it first. But the “Certified Pre-owned” is overstating the obvious fact and making it so clear that even the chimpanzees in Africa will be in no doubt that this fucking phone was owned by another mother fucker.

Steve, could you not just say “pre-owned” or “reconditioned”?  Is that different from “Certified pre-owned”?

Overstating the obvious must be some kind of reverse psychology in marketing. Some people might find that it oozes trust when Apple says “I promise you this phone is second hand”. But they don’t promise the new ones are new though, just the second hand ones. Let’s you think does it not. They never promised that the new ones are new. Apple never says, “Hey, these phones are Certified New!”.

If they would print “refurbished” or “reconditioned” phones I think it carries more truth and trust. Because that is what “Certified pre-owned” actually means. They are used and they have been refurbished so they look new. Everyone knows that second hand implies that someone else used it. It’s inherent in the word “second hand”.

Its interesting, if you say an object is certified then apparently it is better than the non-certified. If you say a human is certified, it means it’s worse of than the non-certified. So inert things are the inverse correlation of living things i.t.o certification.