Almost 20 years after the release of the first iPhone, Apple customers are still wondering what exactly the ‘i’ even stands for.
For a long time, all of Apple’s products were branded with the letter ‘i.’ Whether it be the iPod, the iPhone, the iMac, or the iPad, it became an iconic symbol for the company.
Naturally, with so many ‘i’ products in their inventory, people began to have their own theories.
Users on social media assumed that the famous character referred to the internet, immaculate or even immediate.
Others thought that it just referred to the pronoun ‘I,’ as in the user themselves.
There’s also speculation that it means intelligence, information or even is a reference to the device’s software ‘iOS’.
One person even posted on X that they thought it meant ‘individual’, as in ‘individual phone’.
The late Steve Jobs, Apple’s founder and the creator of the iPhone, actually revealed the meaning behind the ‘i’ before his passing in 2011.
The late Steve Jobs (pictured), Apple’s founder and the creator of the iPhone, revealed the meaning behind the ‘i’
A close up of an Apple iPhone 16 Pro in retail packaging is seen in this September 2024 photo
According to Reader’s Digest, with Apple’s first ‘i’ product, the iMac, the letter did in fact signify the internet. The computer, which was released in 1998, had unheard of internet technology at the time.
So, Jobs and Apple decided to highlight their innovation in the name.
But since then, Jobs gave other meanings to the moniker. Sure, all of his products had radical internet capabilities, but soon other companies began to catch up.
Consequently, as the company grew so did the meaning.
Jobs said the ‘i’ could stand for a whole host of iconic mission statements. Internet, individual, instruct, inform, and inspire are among a few of them.
He also alluded to the letter referring to ‘I’ as a personal pronoun and for ‘instruction,’ referring to the educational aspect of his products.
With new Apple AI capabilities rolling out in more recent iterations of the iPhone, ‘intelligence’ may even be an appropriate meaning for the recognizable ‘i’
With new Apple AI capabilities rolling out in more recent iterations of the iPhone, ‘intelligence’ may even be an appropriate meaning for the recognizable ‘i’.
According to Jobs, there never was one true meaning for the ‘i.’ Instead, it fully encompassed the innovation, inspiration and iconic nature of his brand.
