What is the meaning of the “i” in the iPhone ?

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The iPhone is one of the best-selling technology products in the world and thanks to it, Apple is currently the most valuable company on Wall Street. In fact, as we recently mentioned, the firm could soon exceed $4 trillion in market capitalization, thanks to the integration of artificial intelligence on the iPhone, which could boost sales in 2025.

As a reminder, the first iPhone was presented in 2007. But the “i” in this brand comes from older Apple products: the iMac (the first version). This PC was introduced by Steve Jobs in 1998 and is considered to be the product that saved Apple from bankruptcy at the time. As for the “i” in the iMac, it has several meanings. First of all, this letter indicates that the iMac was a PC designed for the internet.

“iMac is the marriage of the excitement of the Internet and the simplicity of the Macintosh. While it’s a full-fledged Macintosh, we’re designing it for the number one use that consumers tell us they want from a computer: connecting to the Internet — simply and quickly”, Steve Jobs said during the presentation in 1998. But beyond that, Apple also shared a visual indicating that the letter i can have other meanings: “individual,” “instruct,” “inform,” and “inspire.”

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Steve Jobs had another name

The iMac could have had another name: “MacMan.” At least that’s what is revealed in an excerpt from the book “Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success” by Ken Segall, the person who led Apple’s “Think different” campaign, and who is at the origin of the “i’s” in the iMac, iPhone, iPad, etc. According to this excerpt, Apple would have intended to call its computer MacMan (which would have recalled Sony’s Walkmans). And Steve Jobs would have liked the idea.

However, Jobs would have asked Ken Segall’s team to come up with other name ideas. And that’s how the iMac brand was proposed. This proposal would not have immediately convinced Steve Jobs, who loved the name MacMan. But he eventually changed his mind.

Apple is gradually dropping the “i”

Today, Apple has already started to gradually drop the “i”. Indeed, its most recent products no longer have this prefix, such as the Apple Watch, the AirPods, or the Vision Pro headset.

• The iPhone is now one of the best-selling tech products in the world
• The “i” in iPhone comes from the iMac, which was launched in 1998
• The iMac was a personal computer optimized for internet use
• But this “i” can also have other meanings
• Today, Apple stopped using this prefix for the names of its new products

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