What’s in a Name? Apple Removes a Space From “iPhone 3G S”
By Harry McCracken | Monday, June 22, 2009 at 5:19 pm
I can’t believe I’m writing about this, but the iPhone 3G S is apparently getting a name change, three days after it showed up in stores. No, it’s not becoming the iPhone Pro or the iPhone Speedster or the iPhone Evolution. The Apple press release trumpeting the sale of a million units of the new phone calls it the iPhone 3GS–no space. And Apple seems to have gone back and tweaked the release from a couple of weeks ago announcing the phone’s imminent arrival, which originally called it the 3G S and now says it’s the 3GS.
Elsewhere on the Apple site, however, it’s still the 3G S–for now, anyhow:
No word yet on whether the iPhone 3G S logo…
Will become the iPhone 3GS logo:
I kinda liked the possibility of the first production run of this new iPhone manufactured before the adjustment to the name becoming rare and collectible. But they aren’t marked as the iPhone 3G S, and they aren’t marked as the iPhone 3GS. They’re just…iPhones:
(That’s an image from Apple’s site in which the company has eliminated the tiny print that says stuff like “Assembled in China,” but it doesn’t mention the model by its specific name down there, either.)
I don’t know why Apple adjusted the name of a high-profile product a few days after it shipped it, but given the reported return of Steve Jobs, I like the theory posed by Rik Myslewski of the Register: It’s a sign of Jobsian nit-picking. In any event, I approve–it makes the name a tad less clunky, though it’s still hard to figure out how to pluralize it. (Apple goes for “iPhone 3GS models,” but I prefer “iPhones 3GS.”
10 Comments
Read more:
7 Comments For This Post
3 Trackbacks For This Post
-
Much ado about [space] « Davao Mac User Says:
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:00 pm[…] ado about [space] Harry McCracken can’t believe he’s writing about it but I’m sure a few minutes to an hour from now other blogs will pick up on […]
-
Apple News Log Podcast » Blog Archive » Apple News Log #136 Says:
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:13 am[…] What’s in a Name? Apple Removes a Space From “iPhone 3G S” […]
-
Condensed Knowledge – June 28, 2009 – Lists - Raoul Pop Says:
June 28th, 2009 at 2:30 am[…] What’s in a Name? Apple Removes a Space From “iPhone 3G S” […]
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Sort of like the old Apple II GS
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:04 pm
There’s an easy explanation for this… searching for “3g s” on the internet finds million of hits not at all related to the iPhone on the Internet.
Searching for “3gs” returns much more focussed results.
This is basic marketing knowhow… I was surprised Apple had a space in the name to begin with.
June 23rd, 2009 at 5:11 am
I fully agree with Ron, and thought the same thing every time I performed a Google search.
July 29th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
my iPhone was actually a gift from my girlfriend. i really love this phone and i think that this is the best phone that money can buy. i like the features and the design.
December 21st, 2009 at 5:41 pm
I got an iPhone 3G as a gift from my best friend. This phone is the best phone that i ever had, great style and great features. I luv my iPhone 3G.
*
March 17th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
I need some help ASAP! PLEASE!
November 14th, 2011 at 2:56 am
Bless you pertaining to this kind of knowledge.Anmärkning