It's only a matter of time before the actual name leaks. With so many people and shops in on the marketing, packaging, manufacture, testing, etc., the name will out. Someone will talk. I predict this will finally happen a couple of weeks before the event.
iSlate is terrible. What's a slate? If you have to justify it by looking it up in the dictionary/thesaurus, it's a bad name.
But what is a pod? Marketing isn?t necessarily about a name that makes the most sense or has the most definitions that fit the term.
I thought slate was slate was commonly known as something you write on and ?a clean slate? was a common analogy for erasing the past to start anew.
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Newton is good, but already used. Perhaps another famous scientist/artist/philosopher?
Newton is associated with an apple but don?t know of anyone else in those areas who is. Any ideas?
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Someone said Palette. I like that. Like a blank canvas or a bunch of colors ready for you to make something beautiful. Pal for short... like a friend.
I like it, too, but since palette is already commonly used in computing with software I don?t think it makes for a good name and I?d wager that Apple?s marketing would find the term unpalatable fpr that reason.
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iBook is good too, but also already used. Maybe? Instead of an eBook get the iBook.
iBook was in use but there has no product of that name for several years. The problem I have with the term is that a tablet device likely won?t fold like a book and using the term book might pigeon hole it into a mental classification that doesn?t serve multimedia well. Then again, the MacBook and McBook Pro have book in their name and are known for their multimedia capabilities.
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iTablet=too long.
Palette is just as long.
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]Anything with Mac in it is a no-go. This is meant to be sold to everyone (like the iPhone/iPod), not just MacAddicts. "Mac" has negative connotations to loyal PC users. They'll immediately think it's incompatible/childish/whatever.
I agree with your initial statement, just not your reasoning. I think if you call it Mac it has to run a full version of Mac OS X, which means it can run all my Mac apps just as easily as me porting my apps from one Mac to another. I think calling it an ?Apple Name or iName automatically gives the user the impression that it?s not full fledged PC but a complementary device for your PC. I expect this to sync via iTunes like all the iDevices and AppleTV.
PS: Perhaps we need a tabula rasa for our preconceptions. (See what i did there?)
It won't be 2 words. It will be a single word. A single noun. An object wholly itself.
"Dude, hand me my iBook Touch".
"Dude, hand me my Mac Touch".
Sounds like you are in a commercial. Same thing annoys me about anything made my Microsoft. "Microsoft Windows". "Windows Explorer". "Windows Media Player". "Windows everything". Of course it's Microsoft and of course it's Windows. Adding those words just makes it redundant and advertising. I don't want to be in a commercial for free.
"Dude, hand me my iBook".
Much better.
Dude, "books" fold, tablets do not.
A touchscreen iPod is called an iPod touch, a touchscreen Mac (which I see it being) should be called Mac touch. K.I.S.S.
iBook was in use but there has no product of that name for several years.
This is untrue. The difference here with Newton is that there are millions of iBooks still in use. There is a product with that name in widespread use today. It will not be called iBook.
Records show that Apple has owned the iSlate.com domain name since 2007, indicating a possible name for the company's much-rumored tablet device.
Apple has owned the domain iSlate.com since at least 2007 according to records discovered by MacRumors. The domain was registered in 2007 through MarkMonitor, a domain registrar and trademark protection service that has handled domains for companies such as Google, Yahoo and Apple.
Apple's ownership of the domain was displayed for several weeks in late 2007 before being quickly changed back to MarkMonitor. Currently the domain does not point to a website.
In October, Bill Keller, executive editor at the New York Times, made mention of an "impending Apple slate" during a presentation to the newspaper's digital staff:
"We need to figure out the right journalistic product to deliver to mobile platforms and devices. I'm hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that."
Rumors of Apple's forthcoming tablet device have been circulating for years but have reached a critical mass as of the end of 2009. Many expect the device to be announced early in 2010 with the tablet entering mass production as early as February.
This is untrue. The difference here with Newton is that there are millions of iBooks still in use. There is a product with that name in widespread use today. It will not be called iBook.
I?m sure there are a more iBooks in use than there were Newtons sold, but I think iBook could work. I agree that it?s still too early for that name to be recycled but my comment was to the name actively being marketed by Apple, not a device that is still used but will have stopped being sold 4 years before this mythical tablet is rumoured to launch.
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Originally Posted by IHateRegistering
Pod = "POrtable Device, sometimes referred to as "pod," a partial backronym constructed from digital media". I think the shocker at the time was it didn't have the word "Mac" in it. Pod itself isn't bad. What did it originally do? A music player, portable hard drive, and basic utilities. Not exactly a PDA, but a POD.
That is a good answer but that is clearly a backronym. It?s interesting that acronyms and initialisms were virtually non-existence prior to the 20th century.
My only concern is that there is going to be a lawsuit from slate.com about name confusion, and that could slow things down. (I vaguely recall that iPhone was the object of a similar lawsuit?).
iSlate.com might have been more of a problem when Microsoft owned Slate (via MSNBC)...
iPad sounds too much the same as iPod. Not going to happen.
And someone above belittled people who called the iPod touch the ITouch when he/she called it the iPod Touch! lol
iPod touch
iPod nano
iPod shuffle
iPod classic
I have no idea what the new "tablet" will be called. Do we even know if it's going to BE in a tablet form factor?
A lot of people are putting emphasis on it being a book reader. I believe this will do everything we need done that can't be done easily by an iPhone or iPod touch, or by a MacBook or MacBook Pro.
And what is that? Ask Steve. He knows. And I'll bet that it will sell well. The MBA hasn't sold as much as some would have liked, but it fills a niche that those who buy it have wanted in a long time.
So might this mythical tablet. It could sell like the iPhone or be a nice niche product for those who want/need it.
iPod? I think it's a great name. New and unique when it came out.
So, whatever the name, it is the product that counts.
I'll have a good laugh when NOTHING comes out in 2010 that resembles anything like the "tablet" and no one has come up with the iWhere?
There's absolutely no way it will be iBook. This could lead to legal problems and lots of confusion. Can you imagine a customer to a tech, "I need help with my iBook" and the tech assumes the customer means the new tablet, but the customer actually has an iBook G4? This is a disaster waiting to happen, and I think anyone who thinks "iBook" is a possibility for the new tablet is an idiot.
What legal problems? And no confusion that couldn't be solved with the same question for any other of Apple's product: "Which model iBook do you own?" "Oh, the G4 one".
Done.
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I think it's going to be the Apple Slate. It just sounds way better than iSlate. I don't think there will be legal problems with Slate.com because it's a totally different product, online magazine vs. hardware. Apple would reach an agreement with Slate.com if necessary.
Right, because a hardware product with the name Slate that is expected to support magazine subscriptions wont be at all confusing with Slate the online magaine. Who were you calling idiot?
As good a guess as any, including mine. It seems likely to be using the iPhone OS, so is part of that family of products. As such I expect some name linkage to either the iPhone or iPod Touch. I doubt it will be linked to any laptop family name--products that use Mac OS X. Or, as others have speculated, it'll have a completely new name, as the progenitor of an entirely new line of products.
IF this is indeed the name, I think it is a good one. My first reaction wasn't overly enthusiastic, but after a moment, I realized it would be very suitable...
For those thinking it is a crap name or that "a slate is a rock" then think again. For one thing, "A slate" isn't "a rock", though slate is a type of rock. But the primary thing I thought of before thinking of slates like those tiling my roof, is the little individual blackboards that every child carried to school a hundred years ago.
A book you open, hence iBook. A pad you would flip open too, so iPad wouldn't work. A slate you would scrawl right on top of, always interacting with the outer surface -- even flipping it over and using the other side.
There's always the apple variety series: Macintosh, Newton, Pippen (all used). Any thoughts on which apple variety implies the new device's function?
If not function, then as a marketing appeal? Fuji might cater to the Japanese market. Gala to our gay brothers and sisters. Jonathan has a nice friendly ring to it. But Adam does too. ;-). Winesap for substance abusers? Delicious might be covered by that software maker's patents, but Golden Delicious might not. Crab? Well, it's little and has a hard shell. Granny Smith might appeal to computer-phobic retirees. Northern Spy for Yankees? Rome, because it will found a new empire of devices? Arkansas Black? Maybe just a little too narrow a sector.
IF this is indeed the name, I think it is a good one. My first reaction wasn't overly enthusiastic, but after a moment, I realized it would be very suitable...
Let's hope Apple's taste isn't as bad as yours. The name is dumb simply because it is. It's an objective truth.
Comments
iSlate is terrible. What's a slate? If you have to justify it by looking it up in the dictionary/thesaurus, it's a bad name.
But what is a pod? Marketing isn?t necessarily about a name that makes the most sense or has the most definitions that fit the term.
I thought slate was slate was commonly known as something you write on and ?a clean slate? was a common analogy for erasing the past to start anew.
Newton is good, but already used. Perhaps another famous scientist/artist/philosopher?
Newton is associated with an apple but don?t know of anyone else in those areas who is. Any ideas?
Someone said Palette. I like that. Like a blank canvas or a bunch of colors ready for you to make something beautiful. Pal for short... like a friend.
I like it, too, but since palette is already commonly used in computing with software I don?t think it makes for a good name and I?d wager that Apple?s marketing would find the term unpalatable fpr that reason.
iBook is good too, but also already used. Maybe? Instead of an eBook get the iBook.
iBook was in use but there has no product of that name for several years. The problem I have with the term is that a tablet device likely won?t fold like a book and using the term book might pigeon hole it into a mental classification that doesn?t serve multimedia well. Then again, the MacBook and McBook Pro have book in their name and are known for their multimedia capabilities.
iTablet=too long.
Palette is just as long.
]Anything with Mac in it is a no-go. This is meant to be sold to everyone (like the iPhone/iPod), not just MacAddicts. "Mac" has negative connotations to loyal PC users. They'll immediately think it's incompatible/childish/whatever.
I agree with your initial statement, just not your reasoning. I think if you call it Mac it has to run a full version of Mac OS X, which means it can run all my Mac apps just as easily as me porting my apps from one Mac to another. I think calling it an ?Apple Name or iName automatically gives the user the impression that it?s not full fledged PC but a complementary device for your PC. I expect this to sync via iTunes like all the iDevices and AppleTV.
PS: Perhaps we need a tabula rasa for our preconceptions. (See what i did there?)
It won't be 2 words. It will be a single word. A single noun. An object wholly itself.
"Dude, hand me my iBook Touch".
"Dude, hand me my Mac Touch".
Sounds like you are in a commercial. Same thing annoys me about anything made my Microsoft. "Microsoft Windows". "Windows Explorer". "Windows Media Player". "Windows everything". Of course it's Microsoft and of course it's Windows. Adding those words just makes it redundant and advertising. I don't want to be in a commercial for free.
"Dude, hand me my iBook".
Much better.
Dude, "books" fold, tablets do not.
A touchscreen iPod is called an iPod touch, a touchscreen Mac (which I see it being) should be called Mac touch. K.I.S.S.
iBook was in use but there has no product of that name for several years.
This is untrue. The difference here with Newton is that there are millions of iBooks still in use. There is a product with that name in widespread use today. It will not be called iBook.
Dude, "books" fold, tablets do not.
A touchscreen iPod is called an iPod touch, a touchscreen Mac (which I see it being) should be called Mac touch. K.I.S.S.
It won't be a Mac. It won't run Mac OS X software. If I'm wrong I will eat my hat.
Records show that Apple has owned the iSlate.com domain name since 2007, indicating a possible name for the company's much-rumored tablet device.
Apple has owned the domain iSlate.com since at least 2007 according to records discovered by MacRumors. The domain was registered in 2007 through MarkMonitor, a domain registrar and trademark protection service that has handled domains for companies such as Google, Yahoo and Apple.
Apple's ownership of the domain was displayed for several weeks in late 2007 before being quickly changed back to MarkMonitor. Currently the domain does not point to a website.
In October, Bill Keller, executive editor at the New York Times, made mention of an "impending Apple slate" during a presentation to the newspaper's digital staff:
"We need to figure out the right journalistic product to deliver to mobile platforms and devices. I'm hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that."
Rumors of Apple's forthcoming tablet device have been circulating for years but have reached a critical mass as of the end of 2009. Many expect the device to be announced early in 2010 with the tablet entering mass production as early as February.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
One observation: Bill Keller is dryer than burnt toast as far as presenters go.
This is untrue. The difference here with Newton is that there are millions of iBooks still in use. There is a product with that name in widespread use today. It will not be called iBook.
I?m sure there are a more iBooks in use than there were Newtons sold, but I think iBook could work. I agree that it?s still too early for that name to be recycled but my comment was to the name actively being marketed by Apple, not a device that is still used but will have stopped being sold 4 years before this mythical tablet is rumoured to launch.
Pod = "POrtable Device, sometimes referred to as "pod," a partial backronym constructed from digital media". I think the shocker at the time was it didn't have the word "Mac" in it. Pod itself isn't bad. What did it originally do? A music player, portable hard drive, and basic utilities. Not exactly a PDA, but a POD.
That is a good answer but that is clearly a backronym. It?s interesting that acronyms and initialisms were virtually non-existence prior to the 20th century.
Wow, Chalko-touch!
This iSlate be in the shape of iSuperman badge
Not chalk. That is what you get if you lightly scratch a piece of slate with a sharp object - in this case the pointy enfd of a sharp stone.
I think it's a brilliant name. 'Slate' has so many rich, varied meanings related to the functionality of the tablet that is being rumored.
See http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/slate
My only concern is that there is going to be a lawsuit from slate.com about name confusion, and that could slow things down. (I vaguely recall that iPhone was the object of a similar lawsuit?).
iSlate.com might have been more of a problem when Microsoft owned Slate (via MSNBC)...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6741936/
And someone above belittled people who called the iPod touch the ITouch when he/she called it the iPod Touch! lol
iPod touch
iPod nano
iPod shuffle
iPod classic
I have no idea what the new "tablet" will be called. Do we even know if it's going to BE in a tablet form factor?
A lot of people are putting emphasis on it being a book reader. I believe this will do everything we need done that can't be done easily by an iPhone or iPod touch, or by a MacBook or MacBook Pro.
And what is that? Ask Steve. He knows. And I'll bet that it will sell well. The MBA hasn't sold as much as some would have liked, but it fills a niche that those who buy it have wanted in a long time.
So might this mythical tablet. It could sell like the iPhone or be a nice niche product for those who want/need it.
iPod? I think it's a great name. New and unique when it came out.
So, whatever the name, it is the product that counts.
I'll have a good laugh when NOTHING comes out in 2010 that resembles anything like the "tablet" and no one has come up with the iWhere?
Cheers and happy holidays!
They should just call it "Ta-Dah"
*
Not for long.
Just like paper died yeah?
Not chalk. That is what you get if you lightly scratch a piece of slate with a sharp object - in this case the pointy enfd of a sharp stone.
Yeah, but now introducing Chalko-touch!
There's absolutely no way it will be iBook. This could lead to legal problems and lots of confusion. Can you imagine a customer to a tech, "I need help with my iBook" and the tech assumes the customer means the new tablet, but the customer actually has an iBook G4? This is a disaster waiting to happen, and I think anyone who thinks "iBook" is a possibility for the new tablet is an idiot.
What legal problems? And no confusion that couldn't be solved with the same question for any other of Apple's product: "Which model iBook do you own?" "Oh, the G4 one".
Done.
I think it's going to be the Apple Slate. It just sounds way better than iSlate. I don't think there will be legal problems with Slate.com because it's a totally different product, online magazine vs. hardware. Apple would reach an agreement with Slate.com if necessary.
Right, because a hardware product with the name Slate that is expected to support magazine subscriptions wont be at all confusing with Slate the online magaine. Who were you calling idiot?
This device will certainly help.
You don't think, unless we blow ourselves up in nuclear war, that the use of paper will continue to decline to a point where we rarely use it?
I can imagine a time where it's only used as an art medium or for fancy nostalgic books (however, most literature will be in e-version).
Imagination always existed, so what.
Mac Touch or Macpad.
As good a guess as any, including mine. It seems likely to be using the iPhone OS, so is part of that family of products. As such I expect some name linkage to either the iPhone or iPod Touch. I doubt it will be linked to any laptop family name--products that use Mac OS X. Or, as others have speculated, it'll have a completely new name, as the progenitor of an entirely new line of products.
For those thinking it is a crap name or that "a slate is a rock" then think again. For one thing, "A slate" isn't "a rock", though slate is a type of rock. But the primary thing I thought of before thinking of slates like those tiling my roof, is the little individual blackboards that every child carried to school a hundred years ago.
A book you open, hence iBook. A pad you would flip open too, so iPad wouldn't work. A slate you would scrawl right on top of, always interacting with the outer surface -- even flipping it over and using the other side.
If not function, then as a marketing appeal? Fuji might cater to the Japanese market. Gala to our gay brothers and sisters. Jonathan has a nice friendly ring to it. But Adam does too. ;-). Winesap for substance abusers? Delicious might be covered by that software maker's patents, but Golden Delicious might not. Crab? Well, it's little and has a hard shell. Granny Smith might appeal to computer-phobic retirees. Northern Spy for Yankees? Rome, because it will found a new empire of devices? Arkansas Black? Maybe just a little too narrow a sector.
IF this is indeed the name, I think it is a good one. My first reaction wasn't overly enthusiastic, but after a moment, I realized it would be very suitable...
Let's hope Apple's taste isn't as bad as yours. The name is dumb simply because it is. It's an objective truth.