Hello Everyone,
My son asked me tonight what the “i” in Apple products like the iPhone, iPad and such stands for. I don’t have a clue. Does anyone know if it the “i” means something or is it just an “i”?
“Absolutely nothing” would be my guess; it’s just the trendy thing lately to add a meaningless lower-case letter to the front of your product’s name.
The first “i” product was the iMac. Back then, the “i” was for “internet”. Since then, Apple just kept putting an “i” in every new product.
I heard “i” was for individual. I will try to dig up something to see what Apple says it is!
ETA: I was certainly wrong, but I swear I did hear or read that somewhere a long time ago
This is how I remember it.
Internet, since every ‘i’ device has been internet accessible.
I read this somewhere, can’t remember where.
youtube: Steve Jobs introduces the first iMac back in 1998
“iMac comes from the marriage of the excitement of the Internet with the simplicity of Macintosh.” (watch the first 20 seconds to hear the quote)
Of course the “i” can also stand for individual, me, personal.
ETA: multipost!
I also found a press release
http://www.apple.com/ca/press/1998/05/iMac.html
Apple Unveils iMac
The Internet-Age Computer for the Rest of Us
CUPERTINO, California – May 6, 1998
The iMac came along right in amidst eCommerce. It’s about time someone came up with a new letter to stick in front of stuff. I suggest the “f”.
Not (classic, nano, shuffle, etc) iPods…
The lower-case i existed before the iMac and belonged to Steve Jobs. When he was asked to return to Apple, had iCEO placed on his business cards and kept it for many years. In this case the i stood for interim. Maybe this is where he got the idea for using the little i on everything.
Bob
interactive?
I always assumed it was “information,” as in the common acronym IT, “information technology.” This use of the letter was already well established in the computing field before the relevant Apple products began to appear.
It’s all marketing which has very little to no meaning other then boosting sales.
In my line of work we have all decided it stands for ‘irritating’.
In 1996, I worked for a small e-commerce company called “iAdvantage” (Internet Advantage) in Seattle. So the “i”(whatever) was already in use years before that.
I’m going to refer to the fEconomy from now on.
Microsoft programmer, huh? 
And the “iPhone” name was originally used by Cisco Systems in 2006 for a VoIP phone, and they registered the trademark in 2000. Link.
It does seem remarkable to me how Apple manages to steamroller its way over pre-existing trademarks (see also the Beatles’ Apple trademark - in its original agreement, Apple Computer agreed never to enter the music industry to avoid any confusion between the two entities. Which at the time must have seemed a small price to pay because, hey, why would a computer company ever have anything to do with music, right? Luckily by the time iTunes came around, Apple were big enough and rich enough that they could do exactly what the hell they liked, and screw Apple Corps…)
Believe me, Apple Corps got a huge settlement for the use of “Apple.”
But, Apple’s history of picking a name first, and checking later goes all the way back to Macintosh. When Steve decided to use the name, he was aware that it was a trademark of McIntosh labs (the audio guys). He announced to the team that he had decided to use the name, even though the deal had not been finalized yet.