Name Critic rates iPod

Oh thank you Apple for leading the way that Sony lost. Remember the Walkman®? The product the US office originally wanted to call Sound Around, until Mr. Morita (co-founder of Sony) stepped in and said no it will be called the Walkman worldwide – because that was the way to create a global brand.

Like the name Walkman before it, the name iPod does not describe the product. Unlike the MP3 players from Sony, Phillips, Dell, Creative Tech and many others, it does not describe what the product does. And hence it is not a long name, nor are they locked in to some specific descriptor as the technology evolves.

Interestingly enough, Apple first acquired the rights to the name iPod for an internet kiosk product, and still have that registered trademark, in addition to the one for the music players we all know sells millions a month now.

And since Apple so clearly owns the iPod trademark for electronic music devices, they go one step forward and name the various models of the family with interesting names like iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle. In short, since they own iPod in this category, they can put whatever they like after it, and don’t even bother to register those trademarks.

Incidentally, Apple does not own the name iPod across all trademark categories, though soon it might pass into super brand status. What then will happen to the existing iPod trademarks for medical equipment (pulse oximeters) and financial software and services?

As for the iPod logo, we don’t know what it looks like, but we gave it a 10 anyway. When your product is such a powerful symbol of your brand, who needs a product logo anyway?

For more information on the iPod please see Apple.