Apple’s VP of Marketing Phil Schiller has revealed that pretty much everyone pronounces Apple’s product names completely wrong — and they don’t even know it.
Saying the plural form of “iPhone” seems like a fairly straightforward deal. It’s “iPhones,” right?
Not so, says Schiller, who unleashed a tweetstorm lecture on the official way to tell your friends that you own lots of Apple smartphones.
@Gartenberg @BenedictEvans @stevesi @macintux One need never pluralize Apple product names. Ex: Mr. Evans used two iPad Pro devices.
— Philip Schiller (@pschiller) April 28, 2016
Schiller said on Twitter that you never need to pluralize Apple product names. Sorry, you can’t just toss an “es” on the end of “Macintosh” to say you have three at your house.
“It would be proper to say ‘I have 3 Macintosh,'” said Schiller. “Or, ‘I have 3 Macintosh computers.'”
Saying “I have two iPhone phones” sounds pretty ridiculous. However, you can also say “iPhone devices” or “iPhone smartphones.”
(If you talk to linguists in Finland, though, we’re all spelling “iPhone” wrong, too.)
Schiller explained that some words can be both plural and singular, like “deer” and “clothes.” You wouldn’t say “I saw 10 deers.” Likewise, if you say, “I’ve owned 10 different iPads,” you’re talking like someone who buys Samsung.
Via: Business Insider
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
25 responses to “Apple reveals you’re saying its product names wrong”
I liek mah iphonezzzzzz n eye paddssss n mackentoshesssss
Um, sounds like you might be illiterate. If that’s your thing, then go for it. It’s all about perception. :-)
And to this I say eat a bag of dicks. Yes with the pluralization as in a bag full of multiple dicks.
How about bags of dicks, that is, multiple bags each with multiple dicks?
How about “iDon’tCare”?
This is technically correct, but good luck in getting people to use it. From a branding and trademark point of view, your product name should always be used as an adjective (i.e. Macintosh computer, Electrolux vacuum, Otis elevator, Kleenex tissue, etc.). When people start referring to your products as nouns there is the possibility over time of the term becoming generic. As an example, every facial tissue is called a Kleenex even though its made by hundreds of different manufacturers. Here’s one I wasn’t aware of: “Escalator” used to be a brand name for a moving staircase manufacturer. That company is no longer in business and every moving staircase is called an escalator (no capital E). This has happened to many brand names over the last century and a half. In England, vacuum cleaners are all referred to as Hoovers. The former adjective trademark has become a generic noun. An even more recent trend I’ve noticed is that many people refer to the Adobe Reader app as simply “Adobe”. I’ve received many PDFs with “open this file in Adobe and let me know what you think.” Many people are clueless that Adobe is the name of the company, and that Adobe creates lots of different apps (Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, etc.). “Photoshop” is another brand name that’s become genericised. Anytime you hear about a photo that’s been digitally altered or retouched, it’s been “photoshopped” even if you used some other image editing software.
I highly doubt that cellular phones will all collectively be referred to as iphones. The term “phone” fits that role much better than “iphone”. The generic examples that you have provided seem to have occurred in situations where there wasnt any other effective and easy-to-pronounce-name. But this is not the case with phones. Give me a call on your phone sometime, ey?
“iPhone devices” does not sound as good as “iPhones”, regardless of if it’s correct or not…
I don’t know if Schiller is an English expert. Maybe we should ask someone that’s got a degree in the English language. :-)
Everyone’s an expert according to the media. When I see ‘expert’ I say bullshit.
Wow, Phil knows how to shovel the BS. I am a big Mac and iDevice guy, but sometimes Apple takes things a little too seriously.
Seriously, Mr. Shillers need to lighten up.
It’s Lego/Legos all over again. But Phil is right, even if it doesn’t sound right.
Sounds weird. I’ll just say “smartphones” and “tablets” and see what Apple says about that.
This just in: I typed “iPhones” and “iPads” on my iPhone and the built in dictionary didn’t have a problem with it. If we’re saying it wrong they should let their devices know.
Phil sir, when presenting new ‘iPhone or iPad devices’ on a world stage you should always tuck in your shirt. To do different is not proper.
To be clear, my iPhones, iWatches, iPads, Mactops, and Siris don’t care what I call them. They like me for who I am.
Apple uses the word “iPhones” in their own product literature and marketing, so…
I’m sorry, Apple, you don’t just make up your own grammar rules.
Talk Different.
or
You’re not saying it right.
I wonder what Steve Job would say…
i see what you did there.
The only thing Apple reveals is how it wants us to say things. Which is just marketing. Which means they’re not wrong. At the same time, neither am I. Language is flexible and rules are norms. I’ve had several iPhones and two iPhone 5s. Unless you write for a publication that strictly adhered to a style guide, you can speak and write any way you like. If you want to be understood by a broad audience, you’d do well to follow the broadest norms, which in this case is “iPhones”.
You wouldn’t say Chineses
No one says I need a box of kleenexes. As many as you need, they’re all just kleenex. Or I need two aspirins. However big your headache, multiple pills are still just aspirin. FWIW, BlackBerry had/ has the same branding rules. Two BlackBerry devices aren’t supposed to be referred to as two BlackBerries. Of course, one never sees two BlackBerry devices anymore so that problem fixed itself.
I’ve got 3 Samsungs…:-)