May 14, 2012
Apple's Decision to Change iPad Product Naming Across the World Isn't "Ridiculous"
It appears Apple has caved to Australian advertising watchdogs who have been pressuring the company to change its iPad product naming from "iPad Wi-Fi + 4G" to "iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular."
The problem?
The carriers in Australia aren't capable of a 4G quality network for the new iPad. The new iPad with 4G LTE only seems to properly function in the U.S. and Canada on a total of five carriers.
The new naming isn't for Australia alone, but also for the U.S., Canada, UAE, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, Ireland and Hong Kong. The iPad 2 will stay with the name iPad 2 WiFi + 3G.
Apple recently posted this message on the Australian online store:
This product supports very fast cellular networks. It is not compatible with current Australian 4G LTE networks and WiMAX networks. For service from a wireless carrier, sign up for a simple, month-by-month plan on your iPad and cancel anytime without penalty.
And "for the sake of absolute clarity" Apple is placing notices at points of sale in their retail stores as well.
The reaction across the blogosphere has been mixed, but I was interested to see that iTWire was willing to say, "Apple has certainly had some boneheads to deal with in its time, but none more so that those who were unable to read the 4G iPad marketing materials, and those in government power deciding they could 'do something about it.'"
iTWire goes on to say that the threatened lawsuit against Apple is "ridiculous."
I think Apple probably figured that if they went to court in Australia, they would lose.
It doesn't seem reasonable to suggest to people they buy a certain product with a certain service that they will not even be able to use. Apple's willingness to change the name in the U.S. is indicative of that - because only a couple carriers here support 4G.
The name change represents a move towards accuracy in marketing. And that is not something I would call "ridiculous."
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPad, Product Naming, iPad Naming, Branding, Electronics Product Naming, Electronics Brand Name
Posted by William Lozito at 8:05 AM
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April 16, 2012
iPad 4G or Not 4G, That is the Product Naming Question Apple Faces Today in Australia
Apple's iPad naming is under fire in Australia now.
It is a caveat to the nifty "new iPad" naming we got for the next generation tablet device from Cupertino.
Seems that Apple has been advertising the product in Australia as "iPad with WIFI + 4G" (a far more complex name than most of us would like), but the darn thing can't seem to run on the 1800Mhz 4G that Australians use.
Which means it doesn't really have 4G if you're down-under.
Last month Apple agreed to drop the "4G" from its Australian advertising, offering people simply "Ultrafast Wireless" (see image at right) instead of "Ultrafast 4G LTE." They also offered Australians the option of returning their iPads if they felt duped.
Apple then went on to say that Australia's 4G networks were "misnamed" just when the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) suggested that Apple change the iPad naming in that country entirely.
The ACCC added that simply noting that the 4G version of the iPad was "not compatible with current Australian 4G LTE networks."
Fast forward to yesterday, when it became clear that Apple would not change the name of the device.
As TechCrunch says:
The case has two levels of significance for Apple: on one hand, it's an embarrassing admission of one of its products falling short of what Apple claims it can do. That's bad news for any company, but, as with "antenna-gate" and "heat-gate" these knocks always seem to attract disproportionate attention, partly because Apple has played everything so well up to now with its wireless devices.
To date, mediation has failed and the problem will be passed up to the Federal Court in Melbourne next month.
Additionally, Apple may face more problems in the near future as the 4G on the new iPad will probably not work in the UK or Sweden.
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPad, Product Naming, Naming, Branding, Electronics Product Naming, Electronics Brand Name
Posted by William Lozito at 9:45 AM
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April 9, 2012
Is the Apple iPad Tablet Product Name on the Road to Genericism?
Do you own an iPad or an iPad tablet or simply a tablet?
For most of us, the important thing is that we own one period. But then again, most of us are not trademark attorneys.
In a recent Associated Press article, business writer Mae Anderson rightly suggests that the Apple iPad tablet runs the very real risk of becoming a genericized brand name and subsequently losing its very valuable trademark.
To avoid becoming a generic brand, a company's Intellectual Property (IP) counsel may offer a set of guidelines similar to these:
Don't use a mark as a noun, Do use the mark as an adjective
- It's Kleenex brand tissue, not Kleenex
Don't use the mark as a verb
- You don't xerox something, rather, you make a copy of it using a Xerox brand photocopier
Don't use the possessive form
- It's not Nike's new shoe, it's the new shoe from Nike brand
Don't change the form of a mark
- It's Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system, not Win2000
In other words, marketers should not:
Rollerblade, wear Levi's, drink a Coke or line their lips with Chap Stick.Instead marketers need to:
Ambulate (to move about) using Rollerblade brand inline skates, wear Levi's jeans, drink a Coca-Cola soft drink and line their lips with the Chap Stick brand lip balm.
To accomplish this, brand managers in partnership with their IP counsel have created more than enough pages of 'brand guidelines' to fill an iPad or an iPad tablet or simply a tablet.
Yet even marketers with the best intentions break their own rules:
- Google's logo is in constant morph
- Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, told us that Bing has the potential 'to verb-up'
- Vanguard breaks two rules with it's tagline - "Are you investing, or Vanguarding"
- And every company that uses just the brand name URL breaks the rule as well - Wheaties.com, Tide.com, Viagra.com and Sharpie.com
Since our English language is on a collision course with the path of least resistance (think Twitter and text messaging) and since the internet has created a forum for each and everyone of us to use words and brands in the way that most appeals to us, there are very few linguistic barriers on the road to genercism.
This could be a positive considering some of the iPad associations.
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPad, Product Naming, Naming, Branding, Genericized, Genericized Brand Name
Posted by Diane Prange at 11:16 AM
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March 19, 2012
Win a New iPad 3 by Entering Strategic Name Development's Tagline and Slogan Contest
Everybody loves a clever tagline or slogan. From repetition ("It keeps going and going and going" - Energizer) to juxtaposition ("Some of the Best Men are Women" - U.S. Army) to double entendre ("Nothing Runs Like a Deere" - John Deere), the best taglines and slogans are not only memorable, they become part of "the fabric of our lives."
And just as great artists and musicians learn how to create modern masterpieces by studying what has gone before them, so do the writers of today's taglines build on the ideas that have helped to market great brands and companies.
We already provide a growing list of more than 2000 major brand and company taglines.
This contest is designed to make this free database an even more robust resource for marketers and advertisers alike.
To qualify, entrants must submit their list of major brand or company taglines and slogans to submittaglines@gmail.com, no later than April 15, 2012. Entrant must also be 18 years or older and legal resident of the United States at the time of submission.
Judging will be based on the person who submits the greatest number of taglines and slogans for major brands and companies that do not already exist on this list: http://www.namedevelopment.com/list-of-taglines.html
We are excited to see who rises to the challenge of this contest - both for the love of taglines and for the opportunity to Think Different and win the world's most coveted technology products -
the new iPad 3.
For the official contest rules, click here.
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPad, New iPad, iPad 3, Taglines, Slogans
Posted by William Lozito at 3:32 PM
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March 12, 2012
Now Apple Dumps Product Naming For iPhone?
It had to happen. Apple seems to be responding to the outcry over the lack of an iPad name by not only suggesting that this is what Steve would have wanted but also suggesting that the next iPhone will be nameless as well.
This serves to streamline the identity of all the company's products, which is all well and good.
And there is a logic at work here, which is articulated by one blogger: "The fourth-generation iPod touch isn't called the iPod Touch 4. And, similarly, iMacs, MacBooks, and every Apple product besides the iPhone and iPad has just one name, regardless of which generation it falls into."
But this has an interesting ramification as AT&T currently offers many different iPhone incarnations, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. And in the future, think "the new iPhone" instead of "iPhone 5."
Consumers will "just see 'iPhone' and a bunch of different price points. If they dig down, they can see the exact specs. That's better for Apple's brand, and less confusing for buyers. Clever."
This is going to be hard to support this over the long term, but the fact is that we tend to consume Apple products one after the other. The older versions quietly die while we move our attention to whatever is new. Once the iPhone falls into line with the rest of the product naming, there will be less explaining to do.
But could this whole situation have something to do with the never-ending need to protect these brand names? Is Apple getting tired of the trademarking process and copyrighting of endless incarnations of these brand names?
Right now, some nefarious squatter is trying to grab every single possible future incarnation of the iPhone and iPad brand name. By simply saying that they are sticking with the name iPad and the name iPhone, Apple is doing an end run around these idiots.
Given Apple's woes in China over the iPad name, this might just be the case.
However, as I mentioned in my recent iPad product naming blog post, if you don't define yourself, someone else will. I think this is the risk that Apple runs.
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone, iPad, The New iPad, Product Naming
Posted by William Lozito at 10:39 AM
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