iMac 🖥️

iMac, the family of desktop computers produced by Apple, was apparently a name pitched by an LA ad agency.

Root: The name iMac is a portmanteau of internet and Macintosh.

Steve Jobs initially wanted to call the computer "MacMan" but Ken Segall from Apple's ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day claims he suggested iMac. When the iMac was released in 1998, Jobs would reveal the etymology of the name:

iMac comes from the marriage of the excitement of the internet with the simplicity of Macintosh [...] "i" also means some other things to us. We are a personal computer company and although this product was born to network, it is also a beautiful standalone product".

As he spoke, the slide behind him revealed the i also stood for: individual, instruct, inform and inspire. After the iMac's release, other Apple products to follow the same naming convention include the iPod (October 2001), the iPhone (June 2007) and the iPad (April 2010).

The iMac wasn't the first Apple product name that started with a lowercase letter, the eMate 300 was a personal digital assistant introduced in 1997.

Sources: Man behind the iMac name | The Introduction of the iMac | Becoming Steve Jobs

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