From the first iMac in the 1990s to today, the “i” prefix has symbolized Apple – but Apple has been working to phase it out since the original iPad in 2010.
Steve Jobs launched the iPad in 2010 – the last Apple device named with an “i”.
Of course there is still the iPhone and the iPad – but there is no iWatch or iTV and certainly no iVision Pro. In terms of hardware, software and services, Apple added an “i” to around 30 products after the success of the iMac in 1998.
It’s just a letter, but it’s so strongly associated with Apple that to this day there are people who call the Apple Watch an iWatch.
They do this even though the last completely new Apple products with the i prefix were iCloud and iAd in 2011. The last completely new hardware device was the iPad in 2010.
When Apple started making the i
It may just be a coincidence, but the iPad was also the last new hardware device that Steve Jobs released. It’s definitely true that Jobs was a proponent of the i prefix because the man who invented it says so too.
Ken Segall (second from left) with Steve Jobs (second from right)
“I’m taking advantage of this for as long as I can,” said marketing manager Ken Segall Wired. “Coming up with the ‘i’ in the original iMac gets people interested in what I’m saying.”
And what he’s saying is that the ‘I’ has to go… it’s meaningless now.” Segall says Steve Jobs built Apple around that letter and the name iMac, but there are too many companies using it now.
It has definitely lost its “internet” meaning since the iMac helped make internet connectivity an everyday part of society.
Segall is also correct when he further argues that it is not possible to trademark the i prefix or otherwise protect it. And that might actually be why Apple started moving away from it.
Apple’s first steps away from i
In 2006, Apple offered one of its rare glimpses of the future when it unveiled what would become its TV set-top box. Back then it was called “iTV” – but not for long.
It didn’t stay as “iTV” for long.
British broadcaster Independent Television (ITV) objected and the box was eventually released as Apple TV. By this point, ITV had already been active in the UK for just over five decades, so it would not have had difficulty proving prior use in any litigation.
Apple traditionally doesn’t particularly care whether someone else is already using a desired name. As for the iPad, the company may have later spent years trying to protect the iPad name in a lawsuit, but in the beginning it simply bought the name from Fujitsu.
Or so much more recently that it’s not clear whether the problem has been solved or not, there’s the case of the Apple Vision Pro. Before it can launch in China, Apple must find a way to settle a trademark dispute over the name.
The future of me, Apple
“There may be marketers who say Apple would be crazy to drop the prefix – it’s still ahead of some of the biggest brands of all time,” says Segall, “but it can’t be protected and it’s been around for too long.” Companies with “i” things connected to the Internet, and that’s a problem for Apple, which is known for its innovation.”
He also acknowledges that Apple may now be more risk-averse about name changes, such as the way the company dropped “PowerBook” in 2006 and replaced it with MacBook. Since Apple is now a much larger company and there is a risk of more jobs being lost if something goes wrong, Apple may want to err on the side of caution.
In addition, the iPhone is the most successful product of all time. Apple could change the name, but it would need a reason, and simply not being as in love with the letter “i” as before won’t be enough.
What we leave behind
Here, too, there are still the iPhone and the iPad, as well as the iMac, iCloud and iMessage. But over the years, Apple dropped the iPod and the iSight.
It also dropped the iBook – twice. First it was the name of Apple’s consumer laptop, then the app for buying and reading books on the iPad.
That was renamed Apple Books, and the iBooks Store went the same way. The iTools, iDisk, iWeb, iChat, iSync and iCal disappeared along with a feature you probably never noticed: an iTunes feature called iMix.
Gone and forgotten – Apple’s iSight webcam.
There is another, of course, as iTunes is still occasionally mentioned. The app is called Music and instead of selling songs, Apple is pushing the streaming service Apple Music.
We still have iOS and iPadOS and iMovie, but iPhoto has become Photos and today iDVD sounds positively prehistoric.
The latter three are still officially part of the so-called iLife app collection, while Numbers, Pages and Keynote are still supposedly the iWork apps.
But the last release of a product called iLife was in 2010, and while iWork has performed better, the last boxed version came out in 2011.
When Ken Segall came up with the name iMac, he created far more than he could have imagined. But now that he wants Apple to drop the i, he may be overlooking the fact that it’s been working on it for over a decade.
However, products are about more than just naming. Segall also argues that Steve Jobs’ innovative spirit lives on at Apple.