Hey there.
For the most-part, I'm an Apple Life'r... I'll always use & own one (as far as I can tell). I'm not a full-blown zealot... I think they are a corporation just like any other and are in business to turn a profit, but their products really are that good (in my opinion).
Having said that... when the heck are they gonna drop the "i" off of new releases and move-on...?
We all know the origin of the "i" and the "e" was the internet boom of the mid-'90s to the turn of the century where the i was for internet and the e was for electronic. e-commerce; electronic-commerce... i-date for internet dating, etc.
Apple started-out by using the character(s) with the iMac... the first low-cost Mac specifically aimed at quick & easy internet access... hence the "i".
They have since dilluted the meaning of the pre-character by using it on a mix of hardware & software, inexpensive & expensive, internet based or not... Where are we today...?
iMac
iBook
iSight
iPod
eMac
iTunes
iSync
iPhoto
iMovie
iDVD
iLife
iCal
iDisk
iChat
Not to mention all the 3rd-party hardware & software that use the "i" prefix to help saturate the use.
Now there are impending rumors as to NEW products that are potential releases... there's something about iWrite and now another rumor about a video-based product called iBox.
What does the "i" mean anymore. At one point, it was for "internet" (iMac)... then it almost became a moniker for "consumer" (iMac, iBook, iMovie, iDVD)... then it just erased all meaning by being used on a full range of price-points on the iPod (not cheap or entry-level). Then you have iTunes... the "i" has really no use here... same with iSight (other than the pun).
Yet, the ONE major internet application Apple creates has no "i" prefix; Safari. Huh? Safari is ALL ABOUT the internet, yet no "i"...?
In my personal opinion... the whole late-'90s "i" & "e" thing has fully run it's course and I would hope that Apple would start to move-away with the "stigma" that lingers with those single characters.
I think they're better & smatter than that... but I think someone is locked in a leverage state of mind... they want to get the MOST out of this little letter i that they can.
Sure, it's easy for me to be an armchair Marketing Director... but I'm not sure how much more steam it has, how much relevance it has and how much it has tied into Apples Brand Identity. If you ask me (which you have not) I would say its time to move-on and drop the "i"... as cute as it may be.
Well... that's my 2� for the day.
Peace & happy new year.
For the most-part, I'm an Apple Life'r... I'll always use & own one (as far as I can tell). I'm not a full-blown zealot... I think they are a corporation just like any other and are in business to turn a profit, but their products really are that good (in my opinion).
Having said that... when the heck are they gonna drop the "i" off of new releases and move-on...?
We all know the origin of the "i" and the "e" was the internet boom of the mid-'90s to the turn of the century where the i was for internet and the e was for electronic. e-commerce; electronic-commerce... i-date for internet dating, etc.
Apple started-out by using the character(s) with the iMac... the first low-cost Mac specifically aimed at quick & easy internet access... hence the "i".
They have since dilluted the meaning of the pre-character by using it on a mix of hardware & software, inexpensive & expensive, internet based or not... Where are we today...?
iMac
iBook
iSight
iPod
eMac
iTunes
iSync
iPhoto
iMovie
iDVD
iLife
iCal
iDisk
iChat
Not to mention all the 3rd-party hardware & software that use the "i" prefix to help saturate the use.
Now there are impending rumors as to NEW products that are potential releases... there's something about iWrite and now another rumor about a video-based product called iBox.
What does the "i" mean anymore. At one point, it was for "internet" (iMac)... then it almost became a moniker for "consumer" (iMac, iBook, iMovie, iDVD)... then it just erased all meaning by being used on a full range of price-points on the iPod (not cheap or entry-level). Then you have iTunes... the "i" has really no use here... same with iSight (other than the pun).
Yet, the ONE major internet application Apple creates has no "i" prefix; Safari. Huh? Safari is ALL ABOUT the internet, yet no "i"...?
In my personal opinion... the whole late-'90s "i" & "e" thing has fully run it's course and I would hope that Apple would start to move-away with the "stigma" that lingers with those single characters.
I think they're better & smatter than that... but I think someone is locked in a leverage state of mind... they want to get the MOST out of this little letter i that they can.
Sure, it's easy for me to be an armchair Marketing Director... but I'm not sure how much more steam it has, how much relevance it has and how much it has tied into Apples Brand Identity. If you ask me (which you have not) I would say its time to move-on and drop the "i"... as cute as it may be.
Well... that's my 2� for the day.
Peace & happy new year.