[Steko]

"Now, did iFone choose their name based on the positive connotations associated with Apple? I doubt it."

I see no reason to doubt it. There are exceptions but "i" prefix anything generally is trying to cash in on the association. Whether Apple deserves to be the only company that can use "i" prefix is another matter (I would say no).

This is simply another case where Apple will end up writing a big check. They did it for iPad in China, iPhone from Cisco, the swiss clock thing a couple months ago, etc. Again the difference is Apple users aren't crying about how broken the world is because they have to write a check for walking all over some other companies IP.

[swombat]

Apple's iStuff wasn't so trendy in 2003, so it's unlikely that the Mexican telco chose iFone because of Apple.

Today, it would be another matter. Today, a new product named iSomething is most likely trying to piggy back on Apple's coolness factor.

[cycrutchfield]

iPod came out in 2001

[rem7]

...in the US. Mexico didn't get iPods that year. Mexico didn't even get the first version of the iPhone when it came out. You had to buy it in the US and unlock it. I think the first iPhone legally available in Mexico was the 3G.

[Steko]

Let's not pretend Mexico technology magazines didn't cover the iPod craze, even the iMac was on the cover of Time magazine twice.

8000 BC - 1998: no "i" branding.

1999: Apple release the first in a string of hit products under the "i" branding.

early 2000's to present: many other technology companies and products use "i" branding.

2004: in a completely unrelated development, a Mexican company names itself iFone.

[anonymouz]

The Linksys iPhone came out in 1998 too (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisco_iphone). I doubt they were copying the iMac naming, which was just released around the same time. Putting 'i' in front of your product names, when the Internet starts to become a commodity and you want to connect your product to it, isn't exactly far-fetched.

[Steko]

Thanks, that is a silver bullet counterexample I was unaware of. I guess there's a decent amount of doubt we can merit whether it was connected.

I guess the "i" branding is a natural extension of "e" branding that followed from email. Anyway like I said I dont think Apple should have exclusive rights to "i" branding for various reasons, the biggest of which is that it doesn't seem like they've attempted to defend it against hundreds of other products using it.

[jopt]

So they hadn't heard of it, and chose iFone based on what?

[jopt]

That's crazy. Of course they did. Products haven't been named iAnything forever, it started with the iMac and iPod. Legal or not, it's piggybacking.