Over the weekend, the rumor mills went crazy with reports that Apple had bought a new domain name from their registrar (Mark Monitor). The domain name in question: me.com, which would agree with previous reports of Apple re-branding their .Mac service as "Mobile Me."

As we reported earlier it seems Apple is re-launching their .Mac service as an Exchange style service that might even be moving onto other mobile platforms as well as other OSes (including Windows).

As an additional reconfirmation of this rumor, the same tipster that told TUAW first about the .Mac refresh contacted us again to say that the rumors are in fact true. This is still solidly in the rumor category, but it is certainly shaping up to be an interesting WWDC.


[via MacRumors]

With all the hubbub today folks may have missed a small but telling detail. Given the focus on iPods and now the iPhone, Jobs announced the company itself had changed its name from "Apple Computer Inc." to simply "Apple Inc." (already reflected on the bottom of the homepage, right).

Since the iPod became such a hit, many old-time Mac folks have worried that that Apple was increasingly moving away from the Macintosh. While I think it's premature to worry too much, certainly the change in name reflects a substantial shift in Apple's (or perhaps better, Steve Jobs') understanding of what Apple is as a company. It's starting to look like Apple is repositioning itself into a consumer electronics company that also makes computers (Sony, anyone?). What this means in the long term, both for the Mac and for Apple, is anyone's guess. It's heartening, though, that the iPhone will run OS X, so we can hope that even as Apple goes into new markets it won't forget the Mac faithful who got it here in the first place. What's your take on the name change?

According to the Inquirer, Comwave, a Canadian company, has been using the name iPhone in the US and Canada for the last two years. This could be a slight problem for Apple, given that in nearly all the coverage its unannounced, and still speculative, mobile communications device has been deemed "the iPhone".

The Inquirer even popped over to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and searched the online trademarks database for iPhone. It found three documents there: an opposition, a search and an abandonment by Cisco. Their search of the United States Patent and Trademark office turned up two applications as well, one of which the Inquirer thinks was an unsuccessful application from Apple (by "Ocean Telecom Services").

So we're throwing the question out to you readers. What would you name the iPhone if you weren't allowed to call it the iPhone? Let us know in the comments.