What if the iPhone was no longer called the iPhone? The question is worth asking according to Ken Segall, a man who has largely contributed to Apple’s marketing success over the past thirty years.
What if the iPhone changed its name?
He actually worked for the advertising agency chosen by Steve Jobs to sell Apple products. He notably had the idea of adding the prefix i so that they would have a greater impact in the eyes of the public.
The story goes back to 1998 when Apple was working on a home computer with a translucent design. This device is called MacMan internally. But Ken Segall has a much better idea: iMac. For what ? The aim is to make future customers understand that this machine will make full use of the potential of Internet connectivity, which then has a scent of novelty.
We know the rest, Apple will use this same prefix for the iPod, the iPad, but also and above all the iPhone, its cash cow. But in 2024, the Cupertino company should change its tune as the advertiser explained to Wired :
The ‘i’ must disappear. Of course, Steve Jobs built Apple around this prefix, but remember that the ‘i’ has always been a sub-brand. Some marketing experts might say Apple would be crazy to drop the prefix – it’s still ahead of some of the biggest brands of all time – but it can’t be protected, and for too long there have been companies with an ‘i’ for Internet-connected objects, and that’s a problem for Apple, known for innovation.
In fact, we can see that the latest products from the Tech giant no longer use this prefix. This is the case with the Apple Watch, Airtags, and the Apple Vision Pro headset.
A painless modification?
According to marketing experts consulted by our colleagues, the end of the iPhone name could even be painless for the Cupertino company. Ashwinn Krishnaswamy, partner at the brand strategy agency Forge Coop, based in New York, doesn’t beat around the bush:
If Apple says there will be no more iPhone – this is the Apple Phone – we will start calling it the Apple Phone. Apple has such strong distribution, brand and product awareness that dropping the “i” in iPhone won’t hurt its sales.
What do you think of this idea of a name change for this product with a global impact? Tell us in the comments.
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