How Apple names things • Hacker News Board

Re: How Apple names things

#11

Post by _s » Thu, Dec 22, 2022, 7:34 AM UTC

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #10

I always wonder why, out of all the mobile products, is the Apple Watch the only one not called the iWatch? iPod, iMac, iPhone, iPad ... Apple Watch? Feels like somewhere along the line they decided that naming all their products something with the letter 'i' was silly and dropped it.

Previously held trademark / copyright somewhere if I remember correctly - the company that owned it came out and more or less no to the name being used; when rumours were swirling about the "iWatch".

Re: How Apple names things

#12

Post by Czarcasm » Thu, Dec 22, 2022, 7:36 AM UTC

Mistletoe wrote: post #6

[flagged]

The Airpods and Apple Watch I think were both legitimately innovative when first released. They were massive leaps over what previous existed in their respective segments.

Re: How Apple names things

#13

Post by changoplatanero » Thu, Dec 22, 2022, 7:38 AM UTC

Mistletoe wrote: post #6

[flagged]

The first thing on your list, Apple Watch, is only the most successful watch of all time and a ten billion dollar a year business. If that doesn’t satisfy you as something new then I don’t know what would

Re: How Apple names things

#14

Post by pbininda » Thu, Dec 22, 2022, 7:40 AM UTC

hammock wrote: post #8

Where is Max on this list? Where are 2, 3, 4, 5, 5s etc?

max is in there between mini, pad and power. You have to zoom into the interactive version a bit to see it.

Re: How Apple names things

#15

Post by marban » Thu, Dec 22, 2022, 7:41 AM UTC

Can anyone elaborate on the process how companies like Apple can get registered TMs on pretty much any seemingly generic term — Is it that they simply buy out any existing mark that would be remotely conflicting?

Some extremes: Soundtrack, Afterburner, Aperture, Cocoa, Exposé, etc.

Re: How Apple names things

#16

Post by lwneal » Thu, Dec 22, 2022, 7:41 AM UTC

Apple's system strikes an interesting contrast to Google's system for naming products, documented at [1].

[1] https://bonkersworld.net/naming-dartboard

Re: How Apple names things

#17

Post by marban » Thu, Dec 22, 2022, 7:46 AM UTC

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #10

I always wonder why, out of all the mobile products, is the Apple Watch the only one not called the iWatch? iPod, iMac, iPhone, iPad ... Apple Watch? Feels like somewhere along the line they decided that naming all their products something with the letter 'i' was silly and dropped it.

Given that the I was the prefix of the dotcom-days, I'd say it has become too much of an obviousness for a device to be connected.

Re: How Apple names things

#18

Post by nerdponx » Thu, Dec 22, 2022, 7:47 AM UTC

marban wrote: post #15

Can anyone elaborate on the process how companies like Apple can get registered TMs on pretty much any seemingly generic term — Is it that they simply buy out any existing mark that would be remotely conflicting? Some extremes: Soundtrack, Afterburner, Aperture, Cocoa, Exposé, etc.

It's not like all uses of the word "aperture" now refer to an Apple registered trademark. It's just that you can't name an image organizer program Aperture. It's not really a generic term in that context, although it's obviously evocative.

Re: How Apple names things

#19

Post by tacker2000 » Thu, Dec 22, 2022, 7:48 AM UTC

This reads like some typical fanboi stuff.

There are a lot of things to also hate about apples naming schemes, just look at the pro, max, se nonsense they cooked up.

Also the naming scheme of Mac OS versions, i can never figure out which one came before or after the other, there is no rhyme or reason. Why dont they use alphabetical sorted names? Or years/numbers like Windows…?

Re: How Apple names things

#20

Post by emadabdulrahim » Thu, Dec 22, 2022, 7:49 AM UTC

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #10

I always wonder why, out of all the mobile products, is the Apple Watch the only one not called the iWatch? iPod, iMac, iPhone, iPad ... Apple Watch? Feels like somewhere along the line they decided that naming all their products something with the letter 'i' was silly and dropped it.

Because Apple is a tech company, but also considered a luxury brand. A watch is mostly a fashionable accessory. iWatch would've been a gadget-first name. Apple Watch sounds much better if you're trying to sell it to fashion aware people, besides people interested in the best tech.

That's my theory anyway. Probably wrong lol.