If rumours regarding the name of Apple’s print-media-saving grail turn out to be true next week we’ll know at least one thing: There wasn’t a single woman sitting in on marketing sessions. If there were, some of these finer points might have been brought up in time regarding the implications of “iPad.”
I’ll cut Apple some slack, as they used iBook already and there aren’t that many words that go well with the prefix “i,” which suggests both narcissistic possession and a networked, “Internet” group identity in one fell swoop. Sure, “iTunes” was brilliant with its further merging of singular and plural but “iPod” could have been a disaster. Who wants to be a “pod” person? It was saved by the historical legacy of the pod in modernist design. The iPod itself was very new and threatening, but a pod could be comforting and protecting, much like the effect of wearing an “iPod” all the time.
But iPad? Say it ain’t so, Steve.
Readers, I think we can do better. Let’s hear your iDeas in the comments.
