An Apple by any other name

Apple Inc just sounds way cooler than Apple Computers, Inc :)

No really ... I hear everyone talk about this diversifying, and they are going away from computers, just look at the ipods, iphone, appleTV, etc ... I say that's just BS. Look at it this way .. what would iPod or appleTV be without a Mac? Big nothing. Some may argue, but same goes for the iPhone. Yes, it would be phone and all, but 1/2 of the features they are touting (such as the visual addressbook) wouldn't be as cool as it is without the ability to sync it with your Mac addressbook.

So I think the more important question than whether an iPhone, appleTV, product X are consumer electronics or computer is what would these products be without Macs. They wouldn't be as cool and Apple wouldn't be as successful with them. QED - They still are a computer company :)

@4. I doubt the name change is part of the settlement. If anything, Apple Records (btw, often referred to as Apple Inc.) would be asking them to add stuff to their name in the argument to disambiguate the relationship of the former Apple Computer Inc. from music.

Just to make a new conspiracy theory, maybe they are planning merger :) (highly unlikely, I don't believe it at all, and it would be just stupid ... I just wanted to make a new conspiracy theory)

It's like FedEx - why bother wasting time & space calling yourself Federal Express when everyone has branded you FedEx? Same with Apple - who outside of TRademark lawyers would say Apple Computers? Everyone calls it Apple - so let Apple's fall where they may.

People who say the name change reflects Apple's retreat from making Mac's don't understand history. I think every time Apple comes up with a new device, the number one priority is how can we make this device sell more Mac's. The iPod was purposed this way and so is the iPhone. The iPhone could have a potentially greater "halo effect" than the iPod ever had.

I think the name change was for the reason's Steve Job's stated at Macworld and simply because we call Apple Apple. They matched their name with our lingo. Smart.

i mostly turn to train professionals when i am worried about locomotive issues. ZING

This name change isn't really that important. Apple has always been Apple. How many people called Apple Apple Computer when they were still Apple Computer?
Apple has always been building other things then computers, and computers itself are turning into consumer electronic. Heck, most consumer electronics can be thought of as a computer with a specific amount of functionality. It's all the same thing, so it's only logic Apple (or any computer company) is making more and more of these devices.
It always makes me think of that Palm CEO quote: "We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in."
Computer guys are in, you're using their technology. It's just a matter of thinking outside of the box.

Maybe this has been floated already, but isn't it a little odd that Apple Computers has the lawsuit with Apple Records, then there are rumors of a settlement and at the next big announcement Steve shows Sgt. Pepper playing on the iPhone and now we have the strong rumors of Beatles music coming on iTunes with a Super Bowl announcement?

Couldn't the name change be part of the settlement? Either mandated by an agreement between the two parties or a long sought after change by Jobs that was made possible when the lawsuits ended?

I think it is an accurate reflection on the fact that Apple is evolving from a computer company to a digital lifestyle company.

Does anyone one REALLY see the name change as a declaration of surrender? Please - be serious. If they were going to surrender they would have done it in the 90's - not now when they are gaining market share so fast, finally have a superior operating system, and are winning over converts in droves.

That's like surrendering to Japan right after we dropped the bomb. It just doesn't make sense.

I don't think it's so much a surrender from the PC market (since they clearly haven't lost it) as it is an expansion from computing into other consumer devices such as the iPhone and the Apple TV. It allows them to become more than just a computing company.