Name Awards

Historic iPhone arrives.. from the name bully

First there was the Newton, then the Palm (after they were legally forced to drop Pilot from the name), then the Blackberry, Razr, Chocolate, UpStage, and finally the iPhone. Compared to normal naming sequences this is all backwards. Usually an industry first jumps on the direct and common names, then evolves into using real brand names.

If you hadn’t heard of the biggest coming attraction since Windows 95, then you surely have today now that people actually can buy an iPhone. Of course, it is not just a phone, and it is a lot more than a PDA or wireless email. But then again, the iPod is not a pod (though Apple originally had the name for internet kiosks, which were pod-like).

This time, Apple managed to bully (OK, bribe, cajole, tease, entice) Cisco into letting them use the name iPhone, because its structure satisfied Apple’s naming architecture. But folks, please don’t try this bullying others in your home office, unless you have the power and charisma of Steve Jobs, and a big bank account to fund your takeover name actions.

Thank goodness we are not hearing those dreaded PDA initials anymore. Of course, it is a Personal Digital Assistant, (or Pretty Darn Awkward as I always called them), but Apple understands branding big time. So they use real names… just like the iPod beats the life out of all those other devices that have MP3 in their title. How do those names evolve to also be video players, web browsers, organizers and telephones?

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