Continuing this series on the upcoming Apple Netbook, let’s talk product name, an important area of marketing that many technology companies continue to misunderstand.
Apple puts as much effort into product naming as it does with product design, industrial design and graphic design. This effort has paid off well several times as Apple product names (iPod, Mac, etc.) become part of the 21st Century lexicon.
The Original iBook 1999
What’s in a name?
The name MacBook would be a natural to use for the upcoming Apple Netbook. Interesting to note that this product line has been whittled down a single model, a white plastic 13-incher. This model is no slouch when it comes to performance. In fact, at $999, it is the best bang-for-buck product that Apple currently offers.
If you want one of these slightly-sub $1000 wonders, you should act quickly. If Apple marketing goes this direction, it’s bye-bye to this aging plastic form factor for good.
But would Apple re-productize an existing name and established brand? Is it a good idea to bring in a different product under an existing name? There is precedent for it.
Another iName
The iMac is certainly a different product today than it was when it’s Bondi Blue ancestor saved the compnay in the late nineties. I am not suggesting repurposing the iMac brand for the netbook, but Apple has a few other lower case names waiting in the wings like anxious understudies.
The eMac 2002
Remember iBook? This brand evolved from orange toilet-seat cover to G4 powerhouse over it’s 5 year lifespan. The Apple marketing machine could easily bring this friendly sounding name back to prominence. If Apple goes to the well for a name, this would be my first choice. It is a name that snuggles right up to the word netbook, it means virtually the same thing (internetbook), and it has general good karma around it since descends from a successful product line.
More names that look odd at the beginning of a sentence
eMac would be a disastrous name to use for what is sure to be a streamlined product. The name is a clunky as was the products form factor during it short 13-month lifespan. The eMac was originally a low-cost iMac released exclusively to education market. It later became a low-cost ($1,199 in 2002 dollars) consumer product. As far a resurrecting this name, consider it buried in Apples marketing graveyard somewhere between Newton and Cube.
eMate would be an interesting name choice, not because it is a great name, but because it could be considered the netbook of it’s day. This sleek little gadget consisted of a sideways Newton message pad stuffed into a small laptop form factor, whose color and curves would not look out of place in an H. R. Geiger painting.
The Apple eMate 1997
So mini names to choose from.
The name MacBook Mini rolls right off the tongue. It’s fun to say. Try it. This moniker would be quite apropos for a diminutive laptop. But it sounds a bit silly for a product sure to be embraced by consumers and business customers. But not quite as silly as MacBook Nano.
You name it
I like the idea of relaunching MacBook as Apple’s entry into the netbook category. They could just as likely have a new name ready for launch also. Lets hear your ideas on the subject. Please post your comments and opinions below.
