Apple makes an interesting branding shift.
Apple introduced a few new products today.
As expected, it introduced the iPhone 6.
It also introduced the iWatch–
–Wait, no it didn’t. It introduced the Apple Watch.
It also introduced a new payments solution called Apple Pay.
This is a big shift. Apple obviously can’t change the name of the iPhone, but it chose to brand its new products and services as Apple instead of i-.
Apple created the ‘i’ brand, but it never owned it. Countless companies and products use the ‘i’ prefix for products, regardless of whether they are for use with iPhones and iPads.
This might be hard to believe, but at the turn of the century, no one used the i prefix. It was all about e-this and e-that. I know because I still own a bunch of e-domains.
Then Apple came along with its new-fangled iPod and that all changed.
Now, it would seem, Apple is moving more toward its flagship brandname.
What does this mean for the ‘i’ prefix? Not much, at least for now. Between iPhones, iPads and iOS, Apple has engrained the i prefix into the everyday vernacular.
Would of been cool, and nice, if they had named their watch the ‘iWearable’. Just sayin..
They did the same with Apple TV, and it makes a lot of sense. It’s much easier to name products in new categories by simply using “Apple” as the name.
There are literally tens of thousands of products out there that have been adding an I in front of them (iCases, iKeyboards, iSpeakers, etc).. In fact a lot of those companies use fonts and packaging like Apple to give a consumer the feeling they are made or endorsed by Apple.
If they decide to sell kitchen appliances, it would be easier to defend their Trademarks for Apple Toaster or Apple CoffeMaker than it would to defend iToaster or iCoffeeMaker.
Agreed
its better for the brand i guess but not as memorable or catchy. would the ipod had become so huge if it were called apple pod or apple mp3 player? i have my doubts.
Apple One Payroll (www.applepay.com) is about to get a lot of traffic
Yesterday, Apple registered applepay.co , .info, .us, .biz
I’m sure it will go after .com sometime soon.
the i era just begun for Apple icentrality and imainpage great apps
My Guess is Apple would have tried to buy iWatch dot com and not met with deal. Maybe the domain owner would have demanded stack in the product. Apple would have instead decided to go for a better brand which works for them
It is all about branding, apple is a big brand and whatever product they intend to brand will surelly move in the market likewise any clossed related products will also gain traffic from their branding.
Apple may even brand bitcoin as time goes on.ha! ha! ha! It is intresting.
The iPod came out in 2001. The iMac came out in 1998. iMac was used as Apple main brand for their desktops right out of the gate.
Good point, but nobody cared about iMacs or any apple products back then.