Apple considered several names before calling the iPhone the iPhone, and some are very curious
The iPhone is probably Apple’s most popular and best-known device, but It could have been called something completely different.. During an event at the University of Arizona’s marketing department, former Apple advertising executive Ken Segall shared some details about the name of Apple’s popular smartphone.
Scott Buscemi, 9to5macattended this event and was able to learn and record first-hand the different alternatives Apple considered before calling the iPhone as we all know it.
These are the names Apple could have used to call the iPhone
Certainly Apple mixed up dozens of names before arriving at “the iPhone” that we all know. Mainly because this trademark was registered by Cisco. Apple managed to reach an agreement to be able to use this name on its smartphone, but before that other possibilities were considered and here are some of them:
- Mobi. “If it was a mobile device, why not call it “Mobi”. It is certainly a name that sounds attractive and would be easy for users to remember, one of the best alternatives in the list.
- Tripod. “An iPod, a phone and an Internet communicator”, this is how Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, a 3 device in one, so the name Tripod could have a lot of meaning and followed the line of the iPod of Apple. It is said that although Apple did not go with this name, it had a huge impact on Apple’s original presentation and marketing of the iPhone. It was very close.
- TelePod. another name related to the iPod, according to Segall, Apple considered calling the device that because it sounded like a futuristic version of the word “phone.”
- iPad. A well-known name, but you have to understand that the iPad was presented 3 years after the iPhone. Despite this, Apple was working on a tablet before it did on a phone, although it ended up prioritizing the project that ended up being the iPhone.
The name is also visible in the presentation MicroMac. Apple has always emphasized that the iPhone is a computer in your pocket, even in the presentation it guarantees that it uses Mac OS as its operating system.
However, Segall says he came up with the name specifically for this presentation to see people’s reactions and reactions. MicroMac has never been a popular name for Apple for the iPhone.
Since then The name iPhone couldn’t have been better chosen, in the end it turned out to be such an icon that we don’t know if it would have been as successful if we had chosen one of these alternative names. Something similar happened with AirPods, Apple had other names in mind for AirPods Pro. And remember that even though it’s called iPhone, you can change the name whatever you want.