Apple’s Phone WILL NOT be called “iMobile”


iPhone Insider posted a report claiming that Apple’s upcoming phone product would be called “iMobile” yesterday. This, like most Apple Phone rumors, made to the front page of digg, and is now creeping it’s way through the blogosphere…there’s only one problem with it…it’s not true. Here’s why…

Currently, according to the US Trademark Office, there are 8 “Live” trademarks for the name “iMobile”, and none of them belong to Apple.

Obviously, a name like iPhone or iMobile would be a good fit with Apple’s iPod line, but it looks more and more like that won’t be the case. There simply isn’t much left that you can stick a lowercase “i” in front of that relates to phones/pdas/mobile devices left up for grabs.

It has been suggested that the device would be called iChat Mobile or something similar, but even this doesn’t really fit well with what the device is rumored to be capable of doing.

I think we’re more likely to see a name like MacPhone or MacMobile for the device, especially if it is running a scaled down version of OS X.

Of course, it’s all speculation until January 9th, 2007 – so we’ll just have to wait and see…if we hear anything reliable we’ll be sure to pass it along, but as of now, there is nothing that gives this “iMobile” rumor any weight, and quite a bit that says it just won’t happen.


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

22 Comments

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  1. I think it’s stupid to call an object (that’s not released) instead Apple, the (future?) creator of it..
    Please the www stop theses rumors that are in top of my RSS reader every day..

    (I’m an Apple’fan but, wait and see ;))

  2. I buried the iPhone Insider article as inaccurate before it reached the homepage. Sadly, too many people dugg it, so my negative vote didn’t matter.

  3. But the the REAL truth is … this is a dumb story that just states the obvious. There is actually good evidence that it may still be called the iPhone. I did see a great name floating around the web the other day … Telipod.

  4. Michael, just so you know, a “LIVE” trademark doesn’t mean it’s registered. None of the iMobile trademarks under review are currently active. So, from a legal standpoint, it’s still plausible.

  5. I’d place my bets on ‘iPod Mobile’–it fits with the current scheme and the rumor that the device is an iPod with phone capabilities tacked on, and not the other way around.

  6. personally, i beleive this is all being over hyped because the iphone or whatever it is called is not that superior over other music playing phones. And i dont digg this because it is pretty pathetic that Apple cannot fine a descent name for the phone of the future.

  7. @justin
    I have no doubts that Apple can come up with a good name for their alleged phone. Its too bad that RUMORS can’t give apple’s phone a decent name.

  8. It’s going to be MacPhone, especially since it’ll be running a lite version of Mac OS X and this keeps the product in line with the latest hardware trend (MacBook, Mac Pro, etc).

  9. Who’s to say they won’t ressurect the Newton name? They already have the name registered and stuff, and if it does anything besides play music and make calls, it could be considered a PDA so… Yeah. My bet is Newton or something that hasn’t been speculated yet.

  10. Tim –

    A valid point, but I don’t think that’s what we’re going to see. I am no trademark specialist, so I don’t know the details involved with fighting over a name that you want trademarked, but I don’t think it’s very likely that we’re going to see an “i” Anything from Apple with this product.

    Going the Mac route works for several reasons…the scaled down Mac OS…and a separation from the iPod brand…I’m sure the phone will be a music player as well, but Apple doesn’t want you to buy their Phone INSTEAD of an iPod…they want you it in addition to an iPod…and the brand separation will help separate the products in the minds of consumers.

    MacPhone or MacMobile FTW.

  11. LOL. Shades of the the GM(?) Nova car which didn’t sell in South America because “nova” means “doesn’t go”. Apple certainly would have spent a lot of time to ensure that the name won’t inadvertantly mean something else. A small misprint with “iMobile” gives “immobile” = “can’t move”.

  12. Steve jobs already said that new products would have the name “Mac” in front of Them. I also believe the word Macphone will stick for this reason.

  13. It will be Macphone or Applephone aimost certainly the former being the most likely. As it will be seriously integrated with Leopard rather than the iPod this seems extreely sensible and will help expand the Mac name ito areas where it can have much more short term impact than in desktop computers alone but will help expand the whole brand considerably to non Mac users thus making a ‘mac’ halo effect on top of the ‘iPod’ halo effect which can only, since it is a separate brand have so much effect. IPod was important in a product that was aimed at non mac users when they were likely to be put off by the Apple/Mac brand generally. Now that it has done its job of making the whole company and Mac brand more receptive it is now logical to bring back the mac/apple brand big time into new product areas to push the expansion to a new level.

    By the way ‘iCell’ would be a pretty useless brand name in large parts of the World that prefer the term ‘Mobile’ (or other) to Cell phone which is US centric.

  14. imobile? hmm….there`s already have taked that brand (TUNGSTEN) in my country. how if iMacCell?…it`s not to complicated to say it right?