For a long time, any Apple product (or almost) seemed destined to carry the prefix "i" that released the iMac in the late nineties. Either hardware or software.iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, iTunes, iCloud, iBook, iChat, iMessage, iWork, iLife, iWeb, iMovie, iPhoto, iCal, iDVD, iBooks, iSight, iCards ...
For a long time, the "i" prefix has been a way to identify Apple and its products.And in a way it still is in the popular imagination. Mythical are the products of all kinds using the same "i" to try to pretend, more brazen or not, they are coined by Apple or at least move in the same orbit cool and aligned with the company.But times change and is leaving Apple to use his famous "i" . Increasingly, with some exceptions for some years now as the move from MobileMe to iCloud. Let's see how they have evolved some of the above terms.
- iBook: this brand is discontinued to be limited to the MacBook, and all its models.
- iChat became split into messages and Facetime.
- iWeb: discontinued.
- iPhoto: replaced by "more".
- iCal: Calendar renamed.
- iDVD: discontinued.
- iSight: renowned (in some cases) to "iSight".
Meanwhile, several Apple launches have been arriving over the years, and the presence of the "i" has been getting lower. Some examples:
- Apple Music
- Apple Watch
- Earpods
- Smart Cover
- Smart Case
- Magic Mouse
- Magic Trackpad
The "i" and closes doors that you can open Apple
The legacy of the "i" is the design technology. It's MP3 players with headphones and white wires when everyone had them black. It is to put 1,000 songs in your pocket when it was revolutionary, and also with a nice device. It is the non-Windows computer that everyone wanted to try but did not even clear whether it wanted. It is the first decade of the century, and that is a problem: we are no longer in the first decade of the century.
In fact, we are not in 1998, not in 2003, not in 2007, not in 2011. We are in 2015, the year in which Apple has become the largest company in the world with stock data in hand. Its products no longer belong to a niche and the Apple brand is universal. There are no secrets in their products and the aura of mystery that a decade ago had gone. The "i" in 2015, refers to an earlier era and seeks to capture technological profile , a profile that Apple has already captured a large extent.
The watch case
If anything has become clear with the arrival of Apple Watch it is that Apple is going for much more than technological niche . The Moto 360, the Samsung Galaxy Gear, the LG G Watch and company were presented as purely technological products measured in inches screen, as in RAM power and possibilities of their software. However the Watch came with the size measured in mm of the box, no technical specification is said and attention was paid to materials and straps cash and as the crown, he brought an element of analog that seemed to have no place in a smart watch.
During the weeks prior to his presentation there was speculation that "iWatch" would be called. It may sound opportunism and playing in retrospect, but really I was clearly not so called, as was clear he would not get two models in black and white, but there would be many more possibilities for customization (a podcast the days before Presentation protects me). Both beliefs serve the same cause: a clock is a device that comes into fashion. Put a name nerd / geek / technology have been a missed opportunity, as limiting the customization options.
And in those is Apple. In disseminate their products outside the technological niche . In a stage where the technology is commoditized , surely Apple no longer interested sold as a technology, but as something else. At least as a technology that does not lose sight of other areas that have nothing to do with technology, and there come the arts, design, science ... Especially now that has gold hardware (literally) that costs about $ 20,000 or a universal product as a streaming music service. Because at this point the technology is no longer perceived as such in 2010 Spotify was for early-adopters but five years later no one doubts the reliability of the music streaming only.
This is another added advantage for Apple: use names like Apple or Apple Music Watch accomplished that in the medium term runs using only the second part of the name. So Apple appropriates general and global terms like "Music" or "Watch". Time to time.
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