[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.