Today we are going to do another historical article, talking about one of the most notable Apple curiosities: the use of the “i” in various products such as the iPhone, iPod or iPad, in addition to explaining why it was so The launch of the first iPhone on the market is important.
So if you want to discover these curiosities about Apple and understand what is behind the marketing of the names of its most iconic products, Do not miss this article!
Where does the “i” on the iPhone, iPod or iPad come from?
Much has been said about the use of the "i" in Apple products such as iPhone, iPod or iPad, alluding that it does not have a specific meaning. It has been suggested that it could represent various words, such as "inspiration", "individual", "information" or "innovation"., but this doesn't really make sense in products like the iPod, which does not have an Internet connection.
But the culprit for the use of this famous “i” is Steve Jobs in 1998, with the presentation of the first iMac, who expressed that that name came from unite the possibilities of the Internet (a technology that was beginning to reach homes en masse through the telephone pulse) and the ease of use and style of the Macintosh. In fact, it is the end of the use of the name Macintosh commercially, which was simply abbreviated to “Mac” and remains that way to this day.
And the use of that “i” was evident in the company as the distinctive prefix for all those consumer products that were innovative, broke the market and were different.
The only Apple product that abandoned the “i”
The iBook G3 are the "grandparents" of our current MacBook
As a curiosity, Curiously, the only market niche that Apple stopped using the “i” prefix is in laptops.. Originally Apple had its iBook G3 and G4, but later began launching them under the name they have today: MacBook.
This is one of the most striking Apple curiosities, but with a meaning: by eliminating the famous prefix and choosing names like MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, the company may be communicating more directly the features and purpose of those devices instead of depending of a specific letter.
Let's not forget that at the time the first MacBooks were launched, laptops were relatively bulky and heavy. Instead, Apple offered moderate screens, with high capacities and thinking about them being light and transportable "like a book", and hence its name.
The story behind the iPhone
The first iPhone was announced by then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, during the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, and represented a huge change in everything we knew to date in terms of what It was a telephone.
That there is iPhone It is not a product of mere chance that suddenly occurred to him, but since the launch of the iPod, Steve Jobs had an idea in mind: to create a revolutionary device that combined a telephone, a music player and a mobile communication device. .
From the beginning, Jobs and his team focused on creating an exceptional user experience. Above all, what they sought was to simplify interaction with technology and eliminate the need for physical keyboards, opting for a touch screen as the main interface, but without inventing anything new.
Thus, knowledge of the market of related products such as iPods, smartphones and PDAs was combined, all in a single device which was thin enough to fit in a pocket. And with this in mind, let's review the hardware it carried.
The original iPhone: average hardware, but exceptionally assembled
The original iPhone revolutionized the smartphone industry and changed the way people interact with mobile technology, and not so much because of the hardware itself, but because of the way things were done. And that way of seeing the market is undoubtedly one of Apple's curiosities that give it the point of differentiation compared to the competition.
El 2007 iPhone It featured a 3.5-inch capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels, with an interface based on touch gestures, which eliminated the need for physical keyboards and had the famous Home button as its only touch button, which was eliminated with the iPhone
It had a refined design based on aluminum on the back and some plastic on the back, a 2 megapixel camera that was quite weak and the worst thing was that it only had 2G connectivity, something that Nokia had already left as a standard obsolete with the launch of the Nokia 6650 in 2002.
That is, the iPhone was a product that arrived on the market with technology more than 5 years late, without being cutting-edge hardware (it competed in range and price with the Nokia N95, with a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss sensor, integrated GPS and 3G connectivity, all things that the iPhone lacked) but still, it was a round product.
The integration of the hardware that it had with the interface, which made it clear how outdated the Nokia Symbian, Blackberry or Windows Phone was and how poor the initial versions of Android were, made it the user experience was so good that you didn't care if it wasn't the latest From the market. The phone was worth it.
Our assessment as iPhone 2G users
And specifically I can give my opinion about it, because I had it imported from the United States in 2008 through an eBay bid, when you could hunt for “bargains” at ungodly times for Spain and low bidders in the US. So I was able to get my iPhone 2G for the modest price of 135 euros including shipping, which I was using until well into 2010. So in my opinion, The iPhone 2G was without a doubt a great product that was extremely worth it.
This way of working, using only mature hardware, is one of Apple's hallmarks that survive today, although innovation now goes into other areas: investing in good panels, good cameras and continuing to obsessively search for best possible user experience.