Ever wonder why there is an “i” in iPhone?
Apple has been using a lowercase “i” to begin many of its product names ever since Steve Jobs introduced the first iMac computer on May 7, 1998. His explanation for the “i” at the time was as follows:
iMac comes from the marriage of the excitement of the Internet with the simplicity of Macintosh. Even though this is a full-blooded Macintosh, we are targeting this for the #1 use that consumers tell us they want a computer for, which is to get on the Internet — simply, and fast. And that is what this product is targeted for.
“i” also means some other things to us. We are a personal computer company, and although this product is born to network, it also is a beautiful stand-alone product. We are targeting it also for education. They want to buy these. And it is perfect for most of the things they do in instruction. It is perfect for finding tremendous sources of information over the Internet. And we hope as you see the product it will inspire us all to make even better products in the future.
Internet. Individual. Instruct. Inform. Inspire. Steve Jobs may have originally used those words to describe the iMac, but they sure do apply quite nicely to the iPhone, don’t they?
Of course, there was a long road from the “i” in iMac to the “i” in iPhone. In July of 1999, Apple announced the iBook, Apple’s consumer laptop (which evolved into the current MacBook). In October of 1999, Apple announced the iMac DV and introduced iMovie, Apple’s consumer video software. On January 5, 2000, Apple released iTools (which evolved into the current MobileMe), iCards (now defunct) and iDisk. On January 9, 2001, Apple released iTunes and iDVD.
Later that year, on October 23, 2001, Apple introduced the iPod. In Steven Levy’s book about the history of the iPod The Perfect Thing — a great book that you should buy immediately if you would enjoy a behind the scenes look at Apple — he discussed the origin of the term “iPod” as follows:
It was Jobs who told everyone what the device would be called. “He just came in and went ‘iPod,'” says one team member. “We all looked around the room, and that was it. iPod. And we’re like, ‘Where did that come from?'” (Excellent question, and one that proved increasingly elusive the more I pressed people at Apple about it. Finally, I was able to corner Jobs on it and he said that to the best of his knowledge the name sort of emerged, not exactly in a form of immaculate conception but in a lengthy back and forth among him, his marketing people, and Chiat\Day. “The ad agency loved it,” he told me. But I got the distinct impression that the iPod moniker won out not because of its brilliance but because Jobs had had enough of the naming process and the hour was getting late.) [pp. 46-47]
[UPDATE 11/29/11: In the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, there is a single sentence describing the origin of the name: “One of the copywriters suggested they call it a ‘Pod.’ Jobs was the one who, borrowing from the iMac and iTunes names, modified that to iPod.”]
After the iPod, other Apple “i” software products followed such as iPhoto and iChat in 2002, iLife in 2003, and iWeb in 2006.
Considering Apple’s long history of “i” products, it may now seem that it was obvious what Apple would call its phone. But it wasn’t always clear that the iPhone would be the iPhone. Before January of 2007, there were rumors that Apple was working on a phone and speculation over what Apple might call it. At the time, “iPhone” seemed like the logical front runner, but other names were rumored such as “iChat Mobile.” (Yuck!)
Even after Apple announced in January of 2007 that it would ship the iPhone later that year, there was still some uncertainty about the name because Cisco insisted that it acquired the trademark to “iPhone” in 2000 when Cisco bought a company called Infogear Technology. Just after Apple announced the iPhone, Cisco sued Apple. Apple responded that other companies besides Cisco were using the term “iPhone” and that Apple was the first to use “iPhone” to refer to a cellphone. (I doubt that Apple would still take the position today that anyone can use “iPhone” for a product.) At the time, there was even recent precedent for Apple changing a product name to drop the “i” — on September 12, 2006, Apple announced a product that it called “iTV,” but then at the same Macworld Expo at which the iPhone was announced, Apple said that it would call the product Apple TV (presumably because Elgato was already selling a product called EyeTV.) With all of this uncertainty, the first (and unfortunately, now gone) iPhone podcast called itself the “Apple Phone Show” instead of the “iPhone Show” in part because the show’s creator, Scott Bourne, wasn’t sure that Apple would use the name “iPhone” when the product shipped.
Eventually, of course, the uncertainty ended. The Cisco-Apple lawsuit settled on February 21, 2007. The terms were confidential, but Apple announced that the companies agreed that both companies could use “iPhone” and that they would explore opportunities to work together on issues like security and enterprise communications. (And sure enough, there is a Cisco VPN client on the iPhone.) By the time the iPhone was released on June 28, 2007, uncertainty about the name had already entered the history books.
So there you have it, a short history of the letter i. If you want to return to those halcyon days of youth when Apple first announced the “i,” you can still watch a YouTube clip of Steve Jobs introducing the first iMac. This was soon after Steve Jobs returned to Apple, and he had not yet started exclusively wearing his now trademark black turtleneck and jeans for his announcements. But it was still vintage Steve Jobs, full of quips such as this one: the back of the iMac looks better than the front of everyone else’s computers. Here is the clip, which runs seven minutes:
i stands for Illuminati
Great Article I found it very interesting.Thanks
Steve Jobs had such a youthful enthusiasm and pride about his new iMac product. It was great to witness the big ‘reveal’.
i = eye
eyephone
eyepod
eyetunes
etc
it stand for illuminati, surch apple illuminati on youtube
they wanted to release a version of the iTouch for children but soon reconsidered when the marketing team advised that the name iTouchKids probably wasn’t the best idea
Lovely, iPod
I strangely felt akin to iPod name with my Sinhala backgrounds, a diversion of iPod and you invert the letter order “Podi” means in Sinhala “small” which perfectly describe the tiny 1000 song device. (pronounced just as Pod and ee) Since Jobs been to India i am not sure whether it has any Sanskrit diversion which most Sinhala words diverted from. We also refer Pod ee for buddy, chap, little girl, small, tiny means. Which iPod is..
Interesting…
when sony launched camera phone it was suffixed as ‘i’.
Is that true? I couldn’t find anything on the Internet to confirm that. What Sony camera phone are you thinking about?
-Jeff
They should suffix it with ‘y’. The Sony Phony.
Why would ppl think “i” is for illuminati? I can’t say it’s not but i need explanation!
couldn’t find anything special about this damn ”i” … :/
I stands for “Intelligence” it is very nice phone
The “i” is the personal pronoun to refer to one’s self.
Thus, the “i” is all about the self, designed to market to ego, selfishness and narcissism.
Proof, all iphone, imac, itune, ipod users.
♫♪♫ The i was invented by Isaac Asimov who used it in his Science Fiction novel i Robot. I stands for me, which refers to self-consciousness. I suppose Steven Jobs has read the book and was has applied the idea of self-consciousness to the line of all Apple products. If self-consciousness will ever be part of electronic devices like smartphones, that is a question for the future which is nearer than most people think. ♫♪♫
Sony Ericsson K800i released in 2006
Is this one of those things that 97% of conspiracy theorists agree with?
They say it stands for illuminati because they are paranoid conspiracy theorists.
I thought it came from “I,Frankenstein” to “iPhone” and i liked the fantasy that Steve Jobs used but,well this came out to not be true 🙂
I is for internet
Omg lol
I is for internet period.
@Karel Vreeburg, what you said has many layers and is the most meaningful comment in here. For sure i means internet like Mr Jobs said. It’s got more meaning once applied across products and seeing the impact of these products on society. It allowed mans search for meaning to become a never ending external search detaching the brain from the heart, mind, and body. Paradoxically causing man to lose himself in the search for himself. As the intellect remained hungry, it feeds too much on information not enough insight. Meaning comes from balancing insight and information . This imbalance has caused the i to grow into an I and the ego along with it. Never thinking it has enough information it hoards and worries and reacts in fear.The internet supplied this masterfully, the Macintosh simplified it masterfully,. The education system created high tech factory workers masterfully. And Jobs delivered masterfully. And it all happened because people wanted internet/information access in a simple/convenient way. Jobs delivered in abundance on all accounts.
He created a world when men no longer tests themselves in the physical world, so the few intellectuals test the world through the power of virtual means. What a time to be alive!
Johnny Mnemonic movie, 1995, there is a scene where keanu reaves tells Dina Meyer for what kind of hardware he needs to get into “the Net” , one of these is a “Thompson Iphone”..