The man responsible for the i prefix on Apple products says the agreement is now meaningless and that the iPhone should be renamed.
This will lead to a change in the name of the iPhone, iPad and iMac – a transition that Apple accidentally began back in 2007…
Ken Segall: The Man Behind the i Branding
Ken Segall was the creative director of an advertising agency , whom Steve Jobs chose to work first on NeXT and then on Apple. It was a position he held for 12 years.
Segall has many claims to Apple's fame, including being the creative director of the Think Different advertising campaign and the famous Crazy Ones commercial. But perhaps his biggest influence was the creation of the i prefix for Apple products.
It began in 1998, when Apple was working on a radically new and friendly home computer with a translucent Jony Ives design. Apple internally called this device MacMan. Segall urged Apple to use the i prefix to highlight the new Internet connectivity capabilities offered by the device. This device, of course, was released as an iMac.
The i prefix has become the main prefix in the iBook, iPod, iPhone and iPad.
Slow transition to Apple branding
Apple began to abandon the i prefix yet in 2007, with the launch of Apple TV. Many expected it to be called iTV.
However, this move was most likely accidental. ITV was already the name of a television network in the UK and for this reason it was almost impossible to use the brand. Apple, of course, returned to the i branding when the iPad was released three years later in 2010.
Perhaps the first conscious decision to abandon the i prefix was the release of the Apple Watch. They were expected to be called iWatch too, and we can be pretty sure that was Apple's plan for some time, since even CEO Tim Cook got it wrong and called them that in 2014.
Segall says the iPhone should be rebranded
According to Wired, Segall now believes that it's time for Apple to ditch the rest of the branding.
Segall wants to kill his branding creation . He doesn't think Apple should keep the prefix.
“I” must go,” he says. “It's pointless now. Of course, [Jobs] built [Apple] around it, but remember that “i” was always a sub-brand. There might be some marketing experts who would say that Apple would be crazy to drop that prefix – it still stands in front of some of the greatest brands of all time – but it's impossible to defend, and there have been companies with the “i” for too long ” in the Internet. related things, and that's a problem for Apple, which is known for its innovation.”
Although he doesn't say it outright, the implication is that the iPhone should become the Apple Phone. This would bring it closer to the Apple TV, Apple Watch and (technically) Apple Vision Pro, although no one outside of Apple Park and the Apple Store ever calls it that.
Opinion 9to5Mac
Best comment from Skopin
“Apple Phone” sounds banal. I don't see any point in dropping the “i” prefix for devices that already have it; it rolls off the tongue and is already widespread. For now it's just a line of products, much like Samsung's Galaxy or Google's Pixel.
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I'm generally against throwing away a perfectly good brand (also looking at you, WordPress, with the app with the stupid name Jetpack). However, if anyone has the marketing clout to succeed, it's Apple, and I could definitely see the Phone or Apple Phone as a good replacement.
Less clear is how to rebrand the iPad and iMac . . The Apple Pad just doesn't seem right, and there are a lot of Apple Macs out there.
What's your opinion? Do you agree with Segall that it's time to lose i? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Photo: Apple
