Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

When will iPhone be renamed Apple Phone?

Paddle1 said:
The i is for internet.
Click to expand...
i heard many things like : interactive , innovative, individual,intelligent
intuitive,inspirational and all that crap .. but yeah i was for internet in year 1998..
But paradox is that on their site on top is just Mac not iMac .. weird..
they should really drop it on all devices ..
 
C DM said:
They aren't phasing anything out. Some new services and products get the "Apple "name but none of the existing 'i' products have gotten renamed.

The iPhone brand has a HUGE brand recognition and following with it, there simply wouldn't be much of an overall rational reason to change it. Realistically many more downsides than any upsides.
Click to expand...
Itunes radio is now apple music.
 
rui no onna said:
Macs are still called Macs. How old is that trademark?
Click to expand...

Actually Macs have gone through a number of name changes through generation changes:

Laptops: Macintosh Portable, PowerBook, iBook, Macbook / MacBook Pro
Desktops: Macintosh, Macintosh Performa / Centris / Quadra variants, iMac, eMac, Power Macintosh, Mac mini, Mac Pro


IMHO, a change from iPhone to Apple Phone wouldn't cause mass consumer confusion during a generation change (ie for what would be the iPhone 7, 8 or 9). I personally think the iName thing is played out and Apple ProductName sound more upscale. Of course my opinion doesn't count, it's up to Tim and friends.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: kdarling
Ethos Evoss said:
i heard many things like : interactive , innovative, individual,intelligent
intuitive,inspirational and all that crap .. but yeah i was for internet in year 1998..
But paradox is that on their site on top is just Mac not iMac .. weird..
they should really drop it on all devices ..
Click to expand...

on the top of their site it says mac because when you click it it shows the whole mac line, which is macbook, macbook air, macbook pro, iMac and mac pro
 
  • Like
Reactions: orbital~debris
iPhone is such a strong brand that I think it would be silly to change it. They do seem to be moving away from the 'i-' naming scheme with Watch, Pay and Music, but I still doubt they'd do it for the iPad and iPhone as the names are instantly recognisable.

It may also be down to legal issues: the Apple TV was originally announced as the iTV but renamed due to a dispute with ITV:

71864377.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: orbital~debris
typically (more) apple would be to name it just:

Phone

and then launch it on the market without pre-settling with any other companies who market a phone with the name of Phone included in it.

and then successfully lawyer-ing up and winning its lawsuits against these other companies that may have been selling phones with the name Phone in it for 10 years before apple every launched its 1st phone.

this is apple.
 
  • Like
Reactions: orbital~debris
niji said:
typically (more) apple would be to name it just:

Phone

and then launch it on the market without pre-settling with any other companies who market a phone with the name of Phone included in it.

and then successfully lawyer-ing up and winning its lawsuits against these other companies that may have been selling phones with the name Phone in it for 10 years before apple every launched its 1st phone.

this is apple.
Click to expand...
How much of this type of thing been happening exactly?
 
C DM said:
How much of this type of thing been happening exactly?
Click to expand...

phones Lincsys iPhone Lincsys first released phone with the name of iPhone in 1998 result: apple pays Lincsys USD 70 million
music apple corps apple music apple corps had ll rights associated with music since 1964 result: apple pays apple corps (unrevealed amount but rumored to be about USD 250 million
tablets proview iPad 2009 result: apple pays preview USD 60 million
apps amazon "App Store" 2008 apple wanted exclusive rights to word app
cloud services xcerion iCloud 2011 already was registered name by swedish company.

it goes on. but why bother to list them? Mr. Google it yourself (or Ms. Baidu it if you live in China)
 
techishi said:
The branding of iPhone is incredibly powerful and prominent. I don't see this happening, at least not anytime in the near future.
Click to expand...

This.
iPhone, iPad and iPod are their most famous products names, why should they change one of them?
Some people call iWatch their new product, so that i in front of the product name is really specific to Apple in the mind of the average customer.
 
niji said:
phones Lincsys iPhone Lincsys first released phone with the name of iPhone in 1998 result: apple pays Lincsys USD 70 million
music apple corps apple music apple corps had ll rights associated with music since 1964 result: apple pays apple corps (unrevealed amount but rumored to be about USD 250 million
tablets proview iPad 2009 result: apple pays preview USD 60 million
apps amazon "App Store" 2008 apple wanted exclusive rights to word app
cloud services xcerion iCloud 2011 already was registered name by swedish company.

it goes on. but why bother to list them? Mr. Google it yourself (or Ms. Baidu it if you live in China)
Click to expand...
So basically you just showed that Apple didn't register things just to sue others to take their trademarks and make money off of them. And in fact was doing the opposite of what you said by purchasing things from other companies.
 
Apple has made the name "iPhone" a multibillion dollar international brand, and the name is associated with a device that is the most sought after device in the world. Why would they ever change the brand that made them what they are today?
 
TallGuyGT said:
No, I don't know they are doing this and it's pure speculation on my part. But Apple seems to be phasing out the iNames and going with Apple ProductName. Apple Watch (latest premium product) and Apple Pay (latest premium service) looks like the start of a trend.

Seems inevitable to me that they will eventually start calling it Apple Phone. I like the way it sounds and don't think the public would be confused or react poorly (though Apple Pad sounds much worse). Would make sense to do around a major product redesign (not the 6S versions expected this year).

May happen, may not. Thought it would be an interesting discussion.
Click to expand...

Personally I would hope they would change the name to the "Apple Excellence Communication Multimedia Device"
 
Apple has an amazingly bad and amazingly arrogant approach to product naming. They can protect virtually nothing. i___ is a diluted formula. There is an i___ in every product category - and most are not Apple TMs. They can do nothing about that. So, they're moving to a purely category-generic model and even less proprietary model: Watch, Music, TV... The arrogance is that we'll give them credit for being "the ___". But, they'd be powerless to stop anyone else from using the exact name.
 
C DM said:
So basically you just showed that Apple didn't register things just to sue others to take their trademarks and make money off of them. And in fact was doing the opposite of what you said by purchasing things from other companies.
Click to expand...

He showed exactly what he meant.

IIRC, in all the cases he cited except for iCloud, Apple had to be forced to either pay for using someone else's product name, or to stop trying to claim exclusive rights to a common name.

Apple's problem with i-names was that they started using them long after everyone had done so. Thus there were not a lot, if any, unregistered primary names to use. iPhone, iPad, iPod, iBook etc had all been registered by the time Apple decided to use the same names.

Heck, they were so late to the party, that the i-fad had already begun to die out by the time Apple used it for iMac. Ironically, that seemed to make them stand out more.
 
Last edited:
It looks like it's time for the once-or-twice a-year repeat of my list of i-names, for newcomers. :)

The popularity of "i" (mostly meaning "internet" or "interactive") during the 1990s, is why Apple's ad agency wanted to talk Steve Jobs into using "iMac" instead of the name that he wanted... the "MacMan"... a ripoff of the Walkman name from Sony, a company Jobs admired.

A while back, I spent a morning at the USPTO and compiled a quick i-trademark and i-name list. I'm sure there are lots more. It's easy to see that Apple was just following a popular trend, and actually came in as the fad was slowly starting to fade:

Red = Apple trademark, Blue = a name or trademark later used by Apple.

1987 - iNet (online storage)

1992 - iScreen (online computer manuals)

1993 - iTV (interactive TV)
1993 - ICONNECT (internet professionals)

1994 - iPod chair (internet equipped pod chair - Australia)
1994 - iBank (remote banking comms)

1995 - iCOMM (internet comms)
1995 - IMall (internet business)
1995 - iNET (internet comms)
1995 - ishop (internet store software)
1995 - IStore (internet shopping)
1995 - iRock (internet music radio)
1995 - I-SITE (internet comms)
1995 - I-FAX (internet to fax)
1995 - I-Central (internet consulting)
1995 - iFind (MCI directory)
1995 - IVIEW (interactive USAF viewer)
1995 - ICast (internet broadcasts)
1995 - iCity (internet hosting)

1996 - iHome (intelligent/interactive home)
1996 - iMessage (internet mail)
1996 - iRadio (interactive internet radio)
1996 - iBox (internet computer for home)
1996 - IBrowse (internet browser for Amiga)
1996 - i-Remote (internet TV remote control)
1996 - iBooks (interactive books)
1996 - iGames (internet gambling)
1996 - iMonitor (integrated systems monitor)
1996 - iKiosk (internet printer)
1996 - iName (internet addresses)
1996 - iPrint (internet printing)
1996 - iPhoto (internet printing)
1996 - iCall (internet comms)
1996 - iQuest (QWEST internet)
1996 - i-Page (paging handsets from internet)
1996 - iTel (internet media transfer)
1996 - I800 (internet directory)
1996 - I.CHALLENGE (internet gaming)

1997 - IMail (Internet Explorer Mail)
1997 - iWORLD (internet community)
1997 - iPoint (embedded Internet APIs)
1997 - iPump (internet reference design)
1997 - iMeter (internet meter reader)
1997 - I Antiques & I Collectibles
1997 - i-MAGIC (interactive learning)
1997 - iCube (internet kiosk)
1997 - IPostOffice
1997 - iRenaissance (internet software)
1997 - iCommunity (internet BBS)
1997 - iMatch (internet dating)
1997 - INote (internet note taker)
1997 - Iplay (internet games)
1997 - iPhone (internet phone)
1997 - IPAD (Internet Protocol ADapter box)
1997 - IPad (interactive notepad - Cross pens)

1998 - iMagic (interactive ad company)
1998 - iTourist (interactive ads)
1998 - iGovernment (info)
1998 - itravel (internet travel agency)
1998 - INews (internet news)
1998 - IView (interent adapter)
1998 - iAPP (internet job applications)
1998 - iAnnounce (internet announcements)
1998 - iInvite (internet invitations)
1998 - iNote (internet sticky notes)
1998 - iMac by Apple
1998 - imouse (interactive mouse)

1999 - idesk (internet management)
1999 - iform (internet data)
1999 - iTerm (internet web terminal)
1999 - i-Opener (internet web computer)
1999 - IPOD (internet protocol converter)
1999 - iNews24 (internet News site)
1999 - iCatalog (internet catalog)
1999 - iTours (internet tour booking)
1999 - iBook by Apple
1999 - iFrame (internet photo network)

2000 - ICard (internet bank card services)
2000 - iDirect (internet direct satellite link)
2000 - iVacation (internet home rentals)
2000 - iRad (internet radio)
2000 - iPAQ (internet computer)
2000 - iPod (internet kiosk - NJ company)

2001 - iTunes by Apple
2001 - iPod by Apple

AND my favorite pre-Apple i-Trademark of them all...
A product that used ONLY the lowercase letter "i"...

i-name-1997-att.png
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: decafjava
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back