What Does the i in iPhone Stand For?

At this point, a lowercase i before virtually any other word—phone, pad, pod, tunes, etc.—is a giant clue that Apple is affiliated with that gadget, program, or service. And, given that the now-ubiquitous tech company ushered in the practice of including internet access on just about all our personal devices, the assumption that the i stands for internet is a pretty good one.

But internet isn’t the only word the i represents. Back in 1998, Apple unveiled the iMac, a candy-colored, translucent personal computer that boasted a better user experience, higher processing speeds, and access to the internet. During the launch presentation, Steve Jobs confirmed that the i alluded to those internet capabilities—and then some.

“We are targeting this for the number-one use that consumers tell us they want a computer for, which is to get on the internet,” he said, before revealing that i also stood for four other words: individual, instruct, inform, and inspire.

“We are a personal computer company, and although this product is born to network, it also is a beautiful standalone product,” he explained. “We’re targeting it also for education. They [educators] want to buy these, and it’s perfect for most of the things they do in instruction. It’s perfect for finding tremendous source[s] of information over the internet, and we hope, as you see the product, it will inspire us all to make even better products in the future.”

Apple did make even better products in the future, and Jobs gave users the opportunity to access the internet on the go with the launch of the first iPhone in 2007. But by that time, as Reader’s Digest points out, the i had become more of a brand identifier than an indicator that the device actually had internet access; the first iPod, for example, which was released in 2001, had no network capabilities.

While the iPhone has proven to have an impressive amount of staying power in society, the same can’t be said for iPod Socks, the Apple Time Band, and these nine other forgotten Apple products.

[h/t Reader’s Digest]