We have become accustomed to Apple devices starting with the third vocal but does anyone know what it really means? In this article, we will explain to you the meaning of “i” in iPhone, iPad, iPod and iMac.
iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, iPad … If you’re not extraterrestrial, you’re probably used to having most of Apple’s popular products begin with this vowel, something that has been happening recurrently since the last century. What is not so clear is why and what this prefix really means. Surely that’s why there have been many and varied speculative theories about what “i” meant.
What is i in iPhone stands for?
Well, the key was given by Steve Jobs himself back in 1998, precisely when he presented the first iMac in 1998 declaring that his name came ” from the union of the emotion that Internet provides [remember, we talked about the year 1998] with the simplicity of the Macintosh. That’s what we want to offer to consumers who tell us they want a computer to access the Internet easily and quickly. “
Of course, the thing was not going to be that simple. A slide used in that presentation (and probably fallen into oblivion until now that has been rescued from a YouTube video on the channel of the late founder of Apple), reveals that the “i”, in addition to the Internet, also had to do with the individual, instruct, inform and inspire.
And what about the ‘i’ in iPod?
This would explain that after that the prefix would be used again for the iPod, which in its original version had no possibility of connecting to the Internet. Later, the “i” regained strength in its original sense, that of referring to online connectivity, with the launch of the iPhone, announced in 2007. Apple’s revolutionary breakthrough in the mobile field had several key ingredients and one of them was undoubtedly his possibilities of communication through the Internet.
Since then, almost all devices launched by the Cupertino have had some kind of Internet connectivity and the “i” has become almost a hallmark of the Apple brand. And that over time some products, such as Apple TV and Apple Watch have not received the famous prefix. It is not clear whether because Internet connectivity has ceased to be a novelty (to be essential) or because Apple’s policy has changed. It will be difficult to know.
