Phone, iPad, iMac – but iWhy?
Apple has whipped up a cult-like following since its early inception in the 70s, each time convincing us its latest product is the most innovative creation of all time. We all spent hours downloading individual songs to our iPod Video, only for the iPod Nano to come out and make the device we bought just weeks ago… obsolete.
Now in its 15th model, the iPhone has to be one of the most popular phones in the UK – and for good reason. They’re sleek, easy to use, and posses many in-house features such as iMessage and FaceTime. But, have you ever stopped to ponder where the ‘i’ prefix came from?
Last year, people took to social media to get to the bottom of the mystery. It’s a question that is often asked, and people have some good guesses like ‘intelligent’, and ‘indispensable’, with some people even thinking it meant ‘i’ as in ‘my phone’., However, as Steve Jobs revealed what ‘i’ stands for in 1998 – and it’s actually not just one word, it’s five!
The Readers Digest reported that Steve Jobs said that the ‘i’ stands for ‘internet, individual, instruct, inform and inspire’. He also mysteriously said, however, that it “didn’t have an official meaning”, alluding to it potentially meaning a “personal pronoun” and “instruction” for education purposes. So, it seems as though the ‘i’ could well be open to interpretation.
Apple recently confirmed a huge iPhone change to how users download apps, but UK users will miss out of the feature for now. Currently, those with an iPhone can only download applications through Apple’s official store – a feature that’s lead to more shoppers opting for Android devices.
However, Apple is shaking things up as part of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) which is aimed at stopping big companies from gatekeeping their platforms. This means EU users will soon be able to download apps from different market places, but currently excludes the UK.
While this might sound like good news, one of the bonuses of the App Store is that it does protect users from bugs and viruses. This has long been a problem for Android users who have downloaded rogue apps in the past that has contained dangerous malware and has the ability to steal user’s data.