Filed under: Hardware, Cult of Mac, iMac, Steve Jobs, Apple History
An interview with the man behind the name "iMac"
This is a cool interview over at Cult of Mac -- you've heard of Steve Jobs of course, you know who Jonathan Ive is, you might have heard of Rob Janoff, but do you know Ken Segall's name? He's a former creative director from TBWA\Chiat\Day, and he has two claims to Apple fame: he worked on the "Think Different" campaign, and he's responsible for coming up with the one letter that may have defined the modern-day Apple as we know it. That's right, he named the iMac.The writeup is fascinating, even if you get the sense that we're looking through the lens of history, and things may not happened quite as stylishly as they seem. Jobs apparently showed the Bondi Blue iMac to the ad team, and while he originally "hated" the name, he obviously came around -- though Segall apparently never got the satisfaction of official approval.
He closes with an interesting sentiment about the company, too: at Apple, it's always about moving forward to the next big thing, and everything is product-centered, not number-driven. Segall says he was around for a few Jobs "flare-ups," but if there was a fit thrown, it was always in trying to keep the company moving forward as quickly as possible.
Interesting stuff. It's quite a legacy, too -- the iMac was originally called so because it was a Mac that connected to the Internet, but obviously since then, the i has become symbolic of many other things, all the way up to iLife, the iPod, and the iPhone. You tend to forget, after all of the millions of dollars and the culture and promotion, that it all came from the head of a guy in a conference room looking at a computer Jobs just pulled the cloth off of.

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
strang said 11:21AM on 11-05-2009
Am I the only person that thinks iMac no longer makes any sense? It was cool when there used to be iBook, but now consumer notebook is called the MacBook.
So the line goes like this:
Portable: MacBook, MacBook Pro
Desktop: Mac mini, iMac, Mac Pro
iMac is now the only line with the 'i' in front. All the other 'i' devices are handheld MP3 players (iPod) or smartphone (iPhone).
I mean... Come on... Maybe it should be called the 'Mac' now. And reserve the 'i' to handheld devices maybe.
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tony d said 1:44PM on 11-05-2009
I disagree. I think they should have stuck with the name iBook for the plastic laptops. iMac is an iconic name, no reason to get rid of it. I really wish they'd call the MacBook Pro just a MacBook and the Mac Pro just a Macintosh. I kinda miss that name.
strang said 3:27PM on 11-05-2009
As long as there is some kind of consistency. I'm fine with calling the entry level consumer notebook iBook. Then at least you can tell people, the consumer products are all 'i' whereas the niches are called their respective names.
BB Caspian said 11:41AM on 11-05-2009
iThink.
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Joanna D said 11:34AM on 11-05-2009
G4 was the high point for the design. The white G5/Intel models were quite nice as well, but the two designs since then are completely hideous in my opinion. They need to go back to making computers in shades which harmonise with each other and not this abrasive and rather ugly black/silver contrast.
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Frank Owen said 6:42PM on 11-05-2009
Well, everyone's entitled to their opinion. I find each new iMac to be an improvement over its predecessor. The current machine is an absolute triumph of exquisite industrial design. I'll take one over those white pizza boxes any day!
Jordan said 11:56AM on 11-05-2009
"Jobs apparently showed the Bondi Blue iMac to the ad team, and while he originally "hated" the name, he obviously came around"
This is the one thing I wish Jobs would have done, never let them use the name iMac. I guess maybe if they would have just left it at iMac, as at that time it did make sense, but now that everything is "i" something, I'm just annoyed.
iLife, iTunes, iWork, iPod, iPhone, iMovie, iPhoto, iCal
With the exception of the iPhone, none of these names make sense given that the "i" stands for Internet.
I swear if it's called the iTablet or iSlate, it will be boycotted.
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snugs said 12:45PM on 11-05-2009
Why are your posts always so negative?
Jordan said 1:04PM on 11-05-2009
I'm not being negative, I'm stating my opinion. Just because I'm not jumping for joy for Apple doesn't mean I'm being negative.
It's true, the whole Apple "i" naming scheme doesn't really make sense given that it stands for "internet"
Drifter71 said 1:09PM on 11-05-2009
@Jordan.
If you actually read the article this post is based on, you would have seen that it was originally internet, but if you read the interview:
"Segall says he came back with five names. Four were ringers, sacrificial lambs for the name he loved — iMac. “It referenced the Mac, and the “i” meant internet,” Segall says. “But it also meant individual, imaginative and all the other things it came to stand for.” It “i” prefix could also be applied to whatever other internet products Apple was working on."
cowfodder said 7:32PM on 11-05-2009
@Drifter71
But then the troll would actually have to read the article he's commenting on.
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iRawkMac said 1:01PM on 11-06-2009
Excellent.
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iRawkMac said 1:03PM on 11-06-2009
w00t!
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