What does the letter i mean in front of iPhones, iMacs or iPads? Within the Apple ecosystem, The company has released dozens of products and the vast majority use this letter crowning its name..
Even parodies and jokes were published. It’s a sign so branded and linked to Apple that even an artificial intelligence like ChatGPT jokes about it – if there were a movie, he says, it would be called “The iEcosystem”. But the question remains: what is its true meaning?
What does the “i” mean on the iPhone?
Various rumors have been circulating for years. On the one hand, there are those who believe that it is the i of “Internet”, since all these products share the possibility of connecting to the network. But let’s go back to the original source. This letter in front of the main Apple products was a custom that appeared with the first iMac, as we can see in the video of his presentation.
“The excitement of the Internet meets the simplicity of the Macintosh. That’s what we want to offer to consumers who tell us they want a computer to access the Internet easily and quickly” — Steve Jobs
As we see, the first iMac, presented in 1998 by Steve Jobs, already contained this relationship. From the early stages of development, offering an Internet connection was essential to stand out from the competition. Although, as he explained, the link with the internet is only the first part
With the “i” of the Internet
According to some Apple experts, five words starting with the letter “i” were taken into account during development. They are the Internet, individual, educate, inform and inspire. Besides the Internet, this recurring prefix takes shape through them:
- Individual: a clear reminder that the first iMac was a personal computer, easy to use, carry, handle, etc.
- Educate: The iMac was the perfect device to educate a new generation, ideal for getting started in computing, according to Steve Jobs himself.
- Inform: It was also the perfect tool for finding information, working on office tasks, but also for communicating and informing others.
- Inspire: Finally, Steve Jobs recalled that the iMac is an inspiring tool, both for its users and for others, who would see this new machine as a step forward in the evolution of modern computing.
It is not in vain that if we translate the word we will find another clue: iPhone also means “my phone”. And that’s one of the keys to Apple: that it’s part of your identity, that it’s an inseparable extension of you.
In short, the “i” which precedes the iPhone – announced in 2007 – also shares the same philosophy as the first iMac. A characteristic brand that Apple has not gotten rid of for 24 years. And those who remain.
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