OK, so like all of you I'm sure, I read the MacLife.com News Roundup pretty much every day. But I didn't finish it today. Why is that, the curious among you may be wondering. Well, I'll tell you. The first item was so forehead-smackingly hilarious that I nearly knocked myself out.
Because I'm an astute reader of the comments on other articles, I know that some of you object to extemporaneous clicking. So here, just 'cause I care, is the paragraph of which I'm speaking:
Keep the music on: The popularity of iPods (and other MP3 players) is projected to more than double between 2005 and 2011 - news that will no doubt bring cheer and smugness to the halls of Apple's Cupertino HQ. Market research firm iSuppli estimates that worldwide unit sales will reach 268.6 million in 2011, compared to 128.7 million units sold in 2005. (Apple has a 26 percent share of the market, having sold 46.4 million iPods in 2006.)
Can you guess what the problem is there? Look at the name of the research firm. It's friggin' iSuppli. If you're keeping score at home, that's not one, but TWO, totally unncessary, and very, very likely influenced by the popularity of the iPod and the proliferation of iEverywords, lowercase letter i's.
Dude. This is so uncalled for. It's a market research firm, not a cute wittle iPod speaker that looks like some sort of extraterrestrial bug (iWoofer), not an iTunes plug-in (iWow), not any of that. It's an actual company that has nothing to do with the development, manufacture, or direct sale of audio accessories, computers, or integrated lifestyle apps, although I do grant that they cover the electronics industry. (Pssht. To me, that's not a tight enough link, but maybe I'm just a stickler like that.) Why? Why the i?
Yes, I realize the iPod wasn't the first iProduct, or even the first one from Apple. But were we mired in so much (non-Apple) iJunk before the iPod really took off and shined the bright spotlight of mainstream pop culture on Cupertino and its many iWonders? iThinkNot. Bonus question: Which is worse, all the iNames, or the names that spell out the i as eye (EyeTV) just to be different, or, you know, maybe to get a name that pronounces Appley (Applei?) even if it's not spelled like it? Not that I'm accusing the EyeTV of anything like that. I mean, at least it's not iTVHybridiii.
iThunder, iLuv, iMage, iPlayaz, inMotion iM7, these make sense to me. Sure the i is getting clichéd by now, at least a little—as are the cute Apple-esque capitalization schemes, atLeast aLot. I submit that today it's gone too far. iMean, Is this going to be a trend with whatever gadget takes over the iMaginations of the world next? If the Nintendo Wii blows up as much as iKnow it's going to, will wii bii spelliing likee thiis?
So in honor of the good folks at iSuppli (omg, iAlmost couldn't bring myself to type that second i, you guys, seriously), here are a few suggestions for other completely nonsensical, yet oh so iAwesome, potential comapny eyeNames. iNjoy.
iDoc, for all your opthamology needs
iPoop, your septic tank specialists
iCaramba, come taste the best Mexican food in the city
eyeHop, you know...that other pancake place
iRon, shirts washed, starched and pressed
iSpy iPi, private investigator (with the extra i's, you know he's good!)
(As someone shamelessly aping the California Milk Processor Board might say... got more? Hit up the comments!)
i and i
Submitted by Quigleybc (not verified) on Wed, 2007-03-28 22:19
i and i submit a new iIV with a new iDrip for iMeds
irie
Submitted by Island in the Net (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 03:57
As Jamaicans like to say:
"I and I feeling irie with the i words, man".http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=irie
i agree
Submitted by Frank (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 06:37
This trend seemed to start very quickly after the announcement of the original Bondi Blue iMac but you are right when you point out that it has ramped up significantly with the ever increasing popularity of the iPod.
I wanted to point out one thing though. You say, "as are the cute Apple-esque capitalization schemes, atLeast aLot."
In fact, this type of capitalization is what we programmers call camel-case (as in humps). It has been used for many years and because in the programming world you don't get to use spaces when naming things, so you either use an underscore or the camel-case if you want people to easily understand what you are naming something. Having said that, I'm sure there is influence from the engineers/programmers when coming up with naming schemes like this.
Frank
CamelCase . . .
Submitted by Digital Jim (not verified) on Fri, 2007-03-30 11:18
Frank,
You've made an interesting point, but I don't think us programmers have a real influence on the marketing names of products. In fact, I think that is a silly notion. However, I do think that programmING, not programmers, has definitely had an influence on the CamelCase names.
I think the CamelCase has primarily become popular because companies could trademark names that would previously be "un-trademarkable". For example, it would be much harder to trademark two actual words like "Eye Photo" as opposed to "iPhoto" which is not a real word.
- Digital Jim
Programmers not doing the naming
Submitted by Frank (not verified) on Sat, 2007-03-31 10:49
I'm not saying that programmers are coming up with the names. I'm just saying that since this is a computer company, known for its great software that they have quite a few tech people. Therefore, I could see the line blurring and some things coming over from one side of the business to the other. Or more likely, some of the people in decision making positions coming from the technical/programming side of the house.
Later,
Frank
i-i-i-i....uhhhh...shouldn't this be iSubject
Submitted by Erik EIlers (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 08:16
i am thinking of naming my unborn child iKid. I guess that wouldn't work as he or she gets older...so iPerson it is!
;)
I think it's interesting
Submitted by Alex (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 13:30
I think it's interesting that the original meaning of the "i" in iMac was Internet, as in, Internet Mac. I think anyone who wants to use it can only use it if their product is internet related.
iMac = Internet Mac
Submitted by Frank (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 16:37
I don't think it was ever the official line that the i in iMac stood for Internet, especially since the word Internet needs to be capitalized. I could be wrong but I think that was one of those things like the way people think that Wi-Fi stands for wireless fidelity when it doesn't actually stand for anything.
Also, Apple has definitely gone far away from using the i as anything related to the Internet:
iPod
iLife
iTunes
iPhoto
iWeb
iMovie
iDVD
iWork
iCal
Frank
Shouldn't the plural of iPod
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 15:49
Shouldn't the plural of iPod be wePod? As in 'I'll take two wePod".