“iPhone” may seem like the most logical choice for Apple’s iconic handset in hindsight but there were reportedly multiple names up for consideration before Steve Jobs unveiled the smartphone in 2007. Former head of Apple advertising Ken Segall recently spilled the beans with regards to other names that Cupertino was considering during a presentation at the University of Arizona.
Segall said Apple considered going with “Telepod” as they believed it sounded like a futuristic twist on the word “telephone.” Furthermore, the “pod” part was a nod to Apple’s then-popular iPod music player – one of the three key features of the iPhone.
The company also thought about going with “Mobi” as a shortened version of the world “mobile.” The former executive said this name seemed to be a creative name with a personality.
Another name that likely led to many sleepless nights was “Tripod.” It may sound silly at first thought but given the heavy emphasis that Jobs placed on the iPhone’s three key capabilities during the unveiling at MacWorld- a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone and a breakthrough Internet communicator – one can see how it seemed like a great idea at the time.
Finally, Apple even considered calling the iPhone the “iPad.” Considering Apple was actually working on a tablet before they ever came up with the idea to build a phone and the two devices share many of the same features, this actually makes a lot of sense.
