Re: How Apple has steadily been dropping the 'i' (which can't be trademarked)

On 5/21/2024 1:21 AM, Your Name wrote:

True, but there are also many other quotes giving various supposed
"meanings" for the "i", which evolved over time alongside the various
devices, services, and apps which used it. For example:
 
    "Steve Jobs said the 'i' stands for 'internet, individual, instruct,
     inform, [and] inspire,'"
 
Originally the "Apple Watch" was going to be called the "iWatch", but
Apple ran into issues when they tried to trademark that name:
 
    "Apple was unable to name the Apple Watch the iWatch because of
     trademark issues in multiple countries, including the U.S., UK,
     Switzerland, and China."
    <https://secureyourtrademark.com/blog/apple-watch-iwatch-trademark/>
 
There are lots of people who still do incorrectly call it the "Apple iWatch".

Even Tim Cook called it the iWatch (according to this).
https://9to5mac.com/2024/05/20/iphone-should-be-rebranded/

The man responsible for the i prefix in Apple products says that the
convention is now meaningless, and that the iPhone should be rebranded.

That would see a change of name for the iPhone, iPad, and iMac - a
transition which Apple accidentally began back in 2007 ...

Segall has many Apple claims to fame, including creative director of the
Think Different ad campaign and the famous Crazy Ones commercial. But
arguably his biggest impact was in coming up with i prefix for Apple
products.

That began in 1998, when Apple was working on a radically new and friendly
home computer with a Jony Ives translucent design. Internally, Apple
referred to the device as the MacMan. Segall urged Apple to use an i prefix
to play up the then-new Internet connectivity offered by the device. That
device, of course, launched as the iMac.

The i prefix became a staple, with the iBook, iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

Apple began transitioning away from the i prefix back in 2007, with the
launch of the Apple TV. This had been widely expected to be branded the
iTV.

That move, however, was likely an accidental one. ITV was already the name
of a TV network in the UK, and it would have been virtually impossible to
use the branding for that reason. Apple did, of course, revert to the i
branding when the iPad launched three years later in 2010.

Perhaps the first deliberate choice to transition away from the i prefix
was the launch of the Apple Watch. That too had been expected to be called
the iWatch, and we can be pretty sure that this was Apple's plan for some
time, as even CEO Tim Cook slipped up and called it that in 2014.