It's time for Apple to ditch its longstanding tradition on products for innovation

It's time for Apple to drop product names that start with 'i', which have been so recognizable to many in the past.

Ken Segall, the senior creative director for the iMac brand, recently sat down for an exclusive interview with Wired. In the interview, he explained that he was actually the one who convinced Steve Jobs to use 'iMac' as the name for the new computer. This happened back in 1998, where Segall told Steve Jobs that using 'iMac' would be more appealing than the internally developed MacMan moniker which looked 'very scary'.

It's time for Apple to ditch its longstanding tradition on products for innovation Picture 1

The iMac ushered in an era of Apple products beginning with "i".

Since then, Apple products have started with 'i'. However, Segall said that he is currently working on a different idea for the company's product names. Based on his thoughts, Segall believes that names starting with 'i' should be abandoned. Moreover, many different brands have started using 'i' in their product names.

According to Segall, although Steve Jobs did this to make Apple products more well-known, for a company that pursues innovation and progress, they need a new name to highlight the feeling of progress in the new era, so they should drop the 'i' at the beginning of the product name.

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Without the "i", what would the iPhone be called?

He said: 'The 'i' needs to go. It's meaningless now. Sure, Steve Jobs built Apple around it, but remember the 'i' has always been a sub-brand. There may be marketing gurus who say Apple would be crazy to drop the prefix, but the 'i' is not protected, and it's been used by many companies for too long. That's the problem with Apple, which is known for innovation.'

In fact, Apple itself seems to have recognized this problem since 2007. Many of the company's products have been quietly launched without starting with the letter 'i', such as the Apple Watch, Apple TV, and even its latest spatial computing device, the Apple Vision Pro. In the future, the company may gradually replace the 'i' with its own brand name, thereby ushering in a new era.

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CEO Tim Cook launched the Apple Watch in 2014 but in an interview with ABC News, he called it the 'iWatch'.

Marvin Fry

Update 10 February 2025

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