10.28.07
Posted in Language Fun at 7:31 am by Athol
All Scrabble and Wheel of Fortune fans know the value of a vowel. Now it seems like all the e-businesses have snapped up the “e”’s. We know Apple has used a lot of “i’s and someone somewhere is hoarding the “o”s too.
How else do you explain popular new names like Flickr, Razr, Rokr, Rizr, Loopt (pronounced looped)? Of course, we don’t need those vowels - they were silent anyway. Everyone still knows how to pronounce these names… and so the English language continues to evolve. 
But speaking of letters not needed, so often I type in Flikr instead of Flickr or Flicker. Perhaps there is too much flickering going on for the Yahooligans… you’d think they would make these other spellings (for Germanic people and those who know good English respectively) point as well to Flickr! Heck, Yahoo is now a top level domain registrar.. does someone have to explain forwarding to them?
PS Motorola probably got tired of paying the original Razor for the name rights. We note with interest that the proper names are now Motorazr, Motorokr, Motorizr, etc.
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10.23.07
Posted in Rotten Names at 10:19 am by Athol
If ever there was a product Microsoft copied off Apple that really was a me too, it is the Zune. Not to worry, new and improved versions are coming Nov 13th with more gigabytes! Yawn. Have you seen the boring new print ads? Double yawn.
I predict this product will zune be gone from the market, long before the zunni’s are gone from the middle east. (I have commented before in my name critic column about the problems with this name.)
In the meantime, for something musical that really is cool - and different from
Apple’s offerings - check out the new Pacemaker.
Fun name, fun product. It’ll make your musical heart sing.
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10.17.07
Posted in Great Names at 6:10 pm by Athol
You could invent an internet browser and steal somebody else’s boring name and called it Internet Explorer (and later pay $7mill to settle the legal infraction), or you could stop being so pedantic and name it Firefox!
But what do you do when your direct competitor has scooped up the ultra cool Geek Squad.. and equipped them with a lot more decorated VW bugs?
Well, you set the dogs on fire.. and call it Firedog and get your service people jumping through hoops to be of assistance! Congratulations to Circuit City (a big company) to have the chutzpah to pick such a name. Sure beats old style names like Circuit Service Team.
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10.11.07
Posted in Language Fun, Great Names at 4:04 pm by Athol
I have previously written posts about names that cut through the noise, but in the domain name registration space there is one that stands head and shoulders above the crowd. Here are some of the boring sounding ones:
Register.com
Network Solutions.com
Register Fly (that turned out to be a bit of a Fly by night)
RegNow
Registration Technologies
Domain Name
…and 50+ others starting with the word Domain!
And then there is GoDaddy! I have seen staid business people literally do a double-take when this name is mentioned, either because of the shock of the name for a very serious and important business, or because they have seen some of GoDaddy’s fun marketing campaigns.. and don’t realize it is a business site, not a consumer one.
This name obviously did not come from the boardroom. What magic one man can do (Bob Parsons), with the right personality… even though he is backed up by a staff of thousands, all of whom understand the concept of customer service - with a smile. Go Daddy Go - even if you are already number one!
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10.05.07
Posted in Name Winners at 10:04 pm by Athol
When you are looking to market your event, isn’t it much easier with a catchy name? This week Online Market World was struggling in San Francisco - perhaps for many reasons. But when we have already had events like Web 2.0 Conference, Demo and TIE this year already in the Bay Area, perhaps it takes a catchy title to cut through the noise.
And they don’t all have to be fancy registered or trademarked or protected names. Peter Kellner’s upcoming Code Camp is a great example of this. Mention that name around Silicon Valley and see all the .NET programmers, and many others, nodding their heads in unison. And talking about Web 2.0, the whole affair is coordinated via blogs.
Look up Athol Foden’s session (that is me) if you want to join our discussion on how to turn an idea into a product into a company.
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10.03.07
Posted in Name Origins at 9:47 am by Athol
Receiving my fat copy of Wired magazine nowadays is quite a joy since so many others have fallen by the wayside or become leaflet size. And their Geekipedia supplement this month shows how they really pay for that size through these great advertising vehicles, even when they give it such a wierd name. Of course, they are owned by Conde Nast publications who know a thing or two about attracting classy advertisers.
But who are they trying to curry favor with when they rank Apple Corp (the Beetles record publishing company) as being smacked down by Apple Inc (who Think Different)? And conveniently forget that Apple Computers Inc (as it used to be) lost their trademark fight in UK High Court, and ended up paying $43 million for continued use of their name rights once they added music to their computers. On top of which, they lost the insurance claim too.. another $6 or $7 million (or more) in legal bills.
Apple is one of the megabrands of the world now, but the name rights alone cost it $50 million or so. Very interesting, especially when so many execs are reluctant to pay even $5,000 for their company name. Of course, a brand is a lot, lot more than a name. But as Al Ries and Jack Trout said a long time ago: “Your name is your primary weapon in the battle for the mind.“
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