Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family, Rumors, Cult of Mac, Apple
iPhone not going to be called iPhone?
Apple's working on a phone, this we know. We also know that it will be called the iPhone, right? Pete Mortensen doesn't think so, mostly because another company has the term trademarked (though it is in reference to a VoIP service, so Apple probably could use the term iPhone).I think that Apple, should they ever come out with a phone, will call it the iPod. iPod has nothing to do with music, so why should they try and build another brand when they already have a winner?
Go tell Pete what you think Apple should name this often rumored device, and feel free to chime in here.

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jeff Wilson said 8:40PM on 7-24-2006
It would be better if they just got rid of this "i" craze. It is a little overdone.
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jmatt1122@gmail.com said 8:51PM on 7-24-2006
I know! MacPhone. And for those in need of more power, the MacPhone Pro!
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bophojones said 9:12PM on 7-24-2006
i"we own you and everything else in your house so you might as well give us all of your money if you already haven't"
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Vin said 9:18PM on 7-24-2006
The more I think about it I kind of agree with the whole keeping to the iPod brand. It would make sense and probably would fit in nicely with the rest of the iPod line. Portable, plays music, dials out for pizza. Maybe it'll be named something along the lines of 'iPod Talk' (similar to the iPod Shuffle naming convention).
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Scott Rose said 9:39PM on 7-24-2006
Agreed. I've been saying this all along -- the iPod is what the phone will be called.
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Ken R said 9:47PM on 7-24-2006
MacPhone sounds great, so does iPod talk. I wonder if Apple does that blog-comment-aggregating thing to decide what the public wants :)
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Zsm said 9:57PM on 7-24-2006
I don't give a shit what it's called, just make one, and make sure it rocks ;)
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ljbad4life said 10:03PM on 7-24-2006
I'm with #7, as long as the phone rocks, who cares what the name is?!?
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Vin said 10:12PM on 7-24-2006
Yea, you're right. The name doesn't matter at all.
Now if you'll excuse me I'll just go rock out to my... Microsoft Zune?
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dashiel said 10:15PM on 7-24-2006
concur with the ipod sentiment. apple, in my estimation, had a decade's worth of ipod milestones from the very first one. not locked in feature sets or anything, but a general direction. they from the moment they launched the original 5GB ipod there would be smaller hard drives enabling the ipod mini, they knew NAND RAM would come down enough in price & increase enough in capacity to offer the nano, and i think they've known about the phone for just as long.
things they missed, or didn't plan for: the shuffle. even apple underestimated the appeal of the ipod brand. i think they were going to aim high end, but saw an opportunity to wrap up the market. video is another area where i don't think they knew from the beginning, games too.
they've done a wonderful job in not only sticking with their game plan, but also reacting to the market. i've been using apple computers since the ][+ and i don't think i've ever seen the company as market savvy as they are right now. always brilliant technologically, but pretty brain dead marketing wise.
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Jonathan Allen said 10:16PM on 7-24-2006
ichat 4.0
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illobo said 10:19PM on 7-24-2006
Does MacPhones burn up to 75 degrees celsius like MacBooks ? And what about discoloration ? ;)
Jokes aside, my votes goes to something similar to "Apple Mobile" or "iMobile" .. but i'll agree with #7 like a sheep.
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devin said 10:20PM on 7-24-2006
iPod mobile...
that's the way to go. add an mvno to it and you've got a surefire way to waste some cash. =P
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stuart said 10:33PM on 7-24-2006
it will be the "mobile me"
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Jacob Varghese said 10:43PM on 7-24-2006
My vote goes to iPod Voice.
I don't think Apple will go the MVNO route considering how unsuccessful MVNOs are (with the exception of Virgin).
Buy directly from Apple, but use it with a GSM card from any GSM carrier around the world.
GSM
VOIP
WIFI
Bluetooth 2.0
Wireless USB data transfer (480 Mbps)
4GB+ storage
QWERTY keyboard
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NC-Bill said 10:44PM on 7-24-2006
www.iphone.org
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Asiago said 11:03PM on 7-24-2006
I still think that if apple wants a piece of cellphones then they have to add phone features to ipod.
And you'll see advertisements like
Music + photos +videos +phone
or maybe
iPod + Phone
ipods are more than mp3 players they don't have to change the name.
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Dave said 11:10PM on 7-24-2006
iPodPhone
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Kevin S. said 11:32PM on 7-24-2006
Quote Jacob Varghese
"Wireless USB data transfer (480 Mbps)"
wireless USB transfer is 480 Mbps? i don't really know my stuff, but i'm _pretty_ sure that it's not that fast. if it were, wouldn't it be in use for, say, wireless internet? if you can use tcp/ip with a firewire connection, why not with wireless USB?
i'm pretty sure you're off on that figure.
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Scott F said 11:56PM on 7-24-2006
Why all the hullabaloo about Apple coming out with yet another phone? The only thing that would interest me is if it were a phone. I don't want another web browser, Palm, iPod, camera, toaster, vibrator, and egg-poacher.
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