Apple is perhaps one of the most powerful and influential companies in the last 20 years, thanks to the emergence of the iPod, iPhone and other gadgets that transformed our lifestyle.
iPhone, iMac, iPod, and iPad have in common that their names start with an ‘i’ because it is the initial one for the Internet. However, it was about to be a letter ‘e’ that would begin the names of all its products. Even one of its pioneer devices was named after eMate 300, but in the end, they decided on the ninth letter of the alphabet.
Can you imagine if your favorite devices had been called differently? That was about to happen several times, and whether due to marketing decisions or Steve Jobs’ wishes, things didn’t happen that way.
According to the book Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World’s Most Colorful Company, several of Apple’s gadgets had very different names in their origin to those we know now.
Manzana
Many people think that Apple is named for the admiration that Steve Jobs had for Isaac Newton, but in reality, the idea to name his company arose as a result of a diet that his friend, Steve Wozniak, made based on apples.
Jobs found it fun and convenient since if they baptized their company like Apple Computers it would be above the name of Atari in the phone book.
Before deciding on that name, others like Executek or Matrix Electronics were considered, but they seemed to be taken from a science fiction movie.
Macintosh
First of all, we have Apple’s pioneer computers, the Macintosh, which were going to be baptized, inspired by an apple company called McIntosh apples since that was Steve Jobs’ desire.
The marketing team, meanwhile, had the idea of calling this product Allegro or Bicycle. Fortunately, and to avoid legal problems, they decided on Macintosh.
Safari
Apple’s exclusive search engine was nowhere to be called Freedom, Alexander or iBrowse, but again the marketing team intervened and considered Safari to be a better name.
Apple TV
Apple’s digital receiver was going to continue the tradition and be called iTV, but this name looked unimpressive and the goal was to introduce the company into the digital television market.
Apple watch
Like Apple TV, this smartwatch was going to be called following the line of most of the company’s devices. But for marketing decisions, we chose the name we know.
iPhone
One of Apple’s flagship products was about to be called Telepod, a merger between telephone and iPod, which was not too bad compared to the other options: Tripod or iPad.
Fortunately, they decided on the iPhone, although they used one of the names to baptize the company’s Tablet.
iMac
Macman was the name that Steve Jobs chose for his new computer, but his team insisted on iMac, which would end up being better since it marked the line to follow to name the majority of its products.
Siri
Unlike what is believed, Apple did not believe Siri but bought this digital assistant from a Norwegian company. Siri means “beautiful counselor,” which Steve Jobs didn’t like much.
After thinking enough and shuffling dozens of names that have not come to light, he resigned himself and the name remained.
