Apple prefaced the names with I for internet, when most things internet were 
lower-case.  Internet was shiny new for many consumers in the 1990's.  They 
have continues with this branding.

Thank you, 
Mark Snyder 
-----Original Message-----
From: Computer Guys Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On 
Behalf Of [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2010 8:15 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [CGUYS] You Saw the Demo? Are you impressed?

On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 7:31 PM, Reid Katan <[email protected]> wrote:

> Quoting "[email protected]" <[email protected]>:
>
>>  On the same tangent, I am still trying to find out what the "i" part
>> of their various names is supposed to refer to.
>
> My guess would be "iNternet", but what do iKnow. What was the first iName
> anyway? iMac?

  I suspect that Apple took the "i" thing from the high-end automotive
industry.  A number of years ago, BMW and one or two other makers of
very costly, posh and status symbol cars began placing an "i" before
or at the end the model number of the car.  The "i" was in reference
to "injection," as in fuel injection.  Of course, there is no fuel
injection involved in the operation of computing devices as far as I
know, but there is some smugness and snobbishness in the computing
world as in the car world.  The automotive world caused the letter "i"
to become equated with luxury and expensiveness and status when
coupled with a car name or model number, and that equation stuck with
much of the public.  Perhaps Apple decided that was a good way to go
as far as marketing was concerned, so they decided to use the letter
"i" in a similar fashion although it actually held no meaning
whatsoever.  Of course, this is all just a guess on my part although
after the car industry began this "i" thing, various companies started
doing it, even prior to Apple getting on board.  Today there are many
companies that tack the lower case "i" to their product names.

  Steve


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