A PDA by Any Other Name.......?

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcpro.co.uk' target='_blank'>http://www.pcpro.co.uk</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The other day I found myself trying to tell the country (via BBC Radio Five Live) that the iPod, a cultural icon everyone knows by name, wasn’t the best MP3 player around. Instead, the best was the iRiver iHP-100 series player. You could sense the eyes glazing over before I reached the letter ‘P’. It didn’t matter that battery was superior, that it was cheaper and did a great many more things. The iPod not only looks great, it’s name sounds better. Why would they want an iRiver idon’tknowXYZthingumiewatsit to complicate their lives? There’s a whole host of ludicrously named technology out there: only a few companies seem to get it right. Yet a name means so much. It stamps a personality on a product."</i><br /><br />I think Nick Ross make a very good point in the November issue of <a href="www.pcpro.co.uk">PcPro</a> (the article is not currently on-line). Personally I think that the latest batch of HP Pockets PCs are a particularly bad example of an odd naming scheme, as we’ve <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=30787&">previously discussed</a>. PDA's aren't exactly known for their snappy product names, are they? Have you guys got any suggestions of a good Pocket PC model 'name'? The PCPro Top 10 Silliest technology product names does not include any PDAs, but should it? ;-) What’s your personal favourite daft technology product name and do you think getting the name right really matters? After all, as Shakespeare once said: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet."

[Darius Wey]

What’s your personal favourite daft technology product name and do you think getting the name right really matters? After all, as Shakespeare once said: "A Rose by any other name would still smell as sweet."

I wouldn't say it really matters overall, although a catchier name sure does stick into the minds of many consumers. However, people look more at features rather than names, so if a product has the catchiest name of all time, yet delivers poor features, I doubt it would sell as fast as a device that lacked a "cool" name yet delivered a bundle of features worth having.

[Stephen Beesley]

I always thought "Jornada" was a prettysilly name (as much as I liked the device itself) - it never really rolled of the tongue - and as a result my Jornada ended up just being referred to as "the gadget". The name has stuck with my Toshiba e755.

On the other hand my Newtons (of whatever model) were always "the Newton", a name that certainly worked for me.

Of the various PPC brand/model names I think iPaq was the only one with that "roll of the tongue, stick in the mind" consumer appeal. On that basis it certainly seems strange that HP is moving away from it toward some very odd model designations.

[humayunl]

When you go after a MASS market, like apple has with the IPod, we have to realize the reality that the majority of consumers will be average or below average interested in the technology per say, i.e. the specific technical features. and the overall CORE functionality and use (conveniece, useability, playability) will be what will be noticed more... this includes the "personality" of the product which is attained by giving it a name...

so while i agree with you DJ, that for you and me (I'm taking the liberty to assumeYou and I are perhaps a tad bit more informed and interested about the specs adn features of what we get comapred to an average mass consumer of an MP3 player) the name may not make such a big difference in the big scheme of things, but for the mass market, in the long run it can end up being a major contributor to the success of the product.

I'm sorry sometimes my writings even confuse me... like i'm going in circles... if this is one of those times (seems like it), I apologize :)

[geosta]

Owning an iRiver myself, I wholeheartedly agree with Nick Ross on this (I cannot recommend iRiver's products enough!). The iPod just doesn't stack up for feature-loving nerds like myself.

For the other 6 people who work in my office, they don't even know what an MP3 is, yet they all want an iPod. That's the power of good branding.


G

[carphead]

However, people look more at features rather than names, so if a product has the catchiest name of all time, yet delivers poor features, I doubt it would sell as fast as a device that lacked a "cool" name yet delivered a bundle of features worth having.

Sorry I don't think that's true.

I bet if you asked people to name a hardware MP3 Player they would say IPOD. I own a Ipod and it's great at what it does just play MP3's (that and the Itrip are what I brought it for).

But the point is calling something a daft name doesn't help the product.

The fact that people in the know (you or I) can differentiate between a low feature product (Like the IPOD) and a high featured product (Like the IRiver) is irrelevant. If they want a MP3 player the first one that they think of is a IPOD.

The Iriver will never be as successfully not because Apple were the first to market (because they weren't) but because everybody knows what a IPOD is!

IPAQ and Palm's are another good point. Both a synonymous with PDA's that fact that PALM call their units something snappy like the TT1/2/3/4/5 helps people remember BUT HP following their corporate naming scheme and use some thinking IPAQ RZ232378217298 is plan stupid. Take a consumer focused item like the Rx3715 means it's not going to succeed.

In a business world people don't really care about names but the consumer world is different. What works for Business doesn't work for consumer.

Now if they'd called it a IPAQ RX3 or IPAQ R3 it might of helped.

[Darius Wey]

so while i agree with you DJ, that for you and me (I'm taking the liberty to assumeYou and I are perhaps a tad bit more informed and interested about the specs adn features of what we get comapred to an average mass consumer of an MP3 player) the name may not make such a big difference in the big scheme of things, but for the mass market, in the long run it can end up being a major contributor to the success of the product.

Oh definitely! I recently purchased a Creative Zen Touch for a friend. Now the Zen Touch and the iPod are two very competitive products. But... quoting carphead - "I bet if you asked people to name a hardware MP3 Player they would say IPOD. I own a Ipod and it's great at what it does just play MP3's (that and the Itrip are what I brought it for).", I'd say I have to agree with you. The first thing people think of now when you associate an MP3 player with everyday life is the "iPod". While people have heard of Creative, very few have heard of the Zen Touch. The reason why I purchased the Zen Touch for my friend was because feature-wise, I thought the Creative offered more (and also because I have this thing with anything Apple-related but that's beside the point :P). On the grand scheme of things, everyday not-so-well-informed consumers will pick an iPod, which is why when you walk down the street, you usually see those characteristic white earphones and the iPod belt clip. However, for "us G33Ks", I'd have to say that in the majority of cases, we'd worry more about features than the name of the device itself. :)

[GoldKey]

Most likely the readers here are far more technogeeky than the average consumer. We understand the technology enough to understand all the really cool features. For the average consumer, simplicity is king. When making a product, you need to consider the average intelligence of a user and then factor in that half the people are dumber. For them complicated name equals complicated product.

[mr_Ray]

Has anyone tried buying a graphics card recently? Without a doubt that's the worst consumer level area for dumb overcomplicated names.

Heck, some of their names read like a small novel.

"Ultra Monster Radeon 9800 Pro VIVO TV 128MB Extreme" is among the shortest and snappiest of the names.

[Darius Wey]

Don't you just love the naming convention of phones? :P

Just when you think there's a 6610, there is now a 6610i. But wait, there is also a 6220, and a 6230, but aren't you forgetting the 6100 as well. But what about the 6800? Now that's cool.

Sadly, I can put a name to every phone I see now because that's how hard-core tech-geek I've become, but for the average consumer, I swear it's a migraine-inducer. :)

[surur]

When making a product, you need to consider the average intelligence of a user and then factor in that half the people are dumber. For them complicated name equals complicated product.

As an illustration of this, its funny to see the looks of incredulity on even smart people's faces, when you tell them 50% of people have an IQ less than 100. When you have too many smart people together it can be difficult to appreciate how things look from the other side.

Surur

[Brad Adrian]

I agree that "Jornada" always confused me. Most North Americans pronounce it with a hard "j," like in "juice." I have a Pocket PC-using friend who works a lot in South America, so he of course pronounces it with what I'd call an "h" sound, like in "horse." And, what about in Germany, Switzerland, etc.? Is the J pronounced the same way as in "ja?"

One name. At least three pronunciations. Glad it's gone.

[Ed@Brighthand]

Without a doubt, the Casio Cassiopeia. I feel silly saying it and I can't spell it without a spell checker.

I think we geeks over-emphazize model numbers. To non-handheld users (you know, the unwashed heathen), all Pocket PCs are "iPAQs." And I think iPAQ is a very good name.

I also think Pocket PC is a good name, as it truely describes what modern handhelds really are. It's a better name than "Palm," which doesn't say much about the device, aside from where you use it.

Funny how a name can stick for a long time. Here's a conversation I've had many times.

Stranger: "What's that?"
Me: "It's my Palm."
Stranger: (blank look)
Me: "It's a Palm Pilot."
Stranger: "Oh yeah!!"

Alternate version:

Stranger: "What's that?"
Me: "It's my Pocket PC."
Stranger: "Is that one of them there Palm Pilots?"
Me: *sigh*

[jkendrick]

No question the worst name ever. I don't want to put the name here for obvious reasons.

http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2004/09/uk_firm_release.html

[humayunl]

wow.. everybody agreeing....

i think we've achieved a perfect world :)

[Darius Wey]

No question the worst name ever. I don't want to put the name here for obvious reasons.

http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2004/09/uk_firm_release.html

:rofl: Oh....that's just very "original"! :P

[Jimmy Dodd]

I agree that "Jornada" always confused me. Most North Americans pronounce it with a hard "j," like in "juice." I have a Pocket PC-using friend who works a lot in South America, so he of course pronounces it with what I'd call an "h" sound, like in "horse." And, what about in Germany, Switzerland, etc.? Is the J pronounced the same way as in "ja?"

One name. At least three pronunciations. Glad it's gone.

Don't forget the totally wrong (and slightly dyslexic) but often used "Jordana." I got that a lot. I think it had to do with the funky script used on the device.

[carphead]

wow.. everybody agreeing....

i think we've achieved a perfect world :)

No we haven't ;)

Sorry it had to be said. :)

[thanos255]

On the subject of mp3 players.... I have the Iriver HP-140 and cannot live without it.

Thefpeople at bestbuy were trying to convince me to get ln Ipod... WHY?

because it was an ipod.....that's all. *sigh*

[MikeUnwired]

It's so hard to tell what name will kick-in and become the category label. For instance, Palm Pilot -- it's the generic name of all non-phone PDAs these days for a vast majorioty of consumers and non-technical business people. I think Pocket PC is a good category name for the more powerfilled units of today -- the ones that aren't just PIM-based units.

iPod is a good category name. iRiver isn't because the word river is too mainstream as another label -- for rivers, streams and creeks.

iPaq is good, but it didn't reach the critical mass fast enough. Look at Blackberry -- any phone unit witha QWERTY keyboard is a "Blackberry" or "Crackberry" -- even if it's a Treo or PPC.

Let's look at bad names -- Jornada was bad -- how do I say that?
Treo -- is it "tree O" or "tray O"?
Clie -- is it "clee A" or just "cleee"?
Axim -- again, not enough market share to build the category name

To win the name game, a unit needs to be first out of the gate to popularity AND be easy to say. Palm Pilot wasn't the first handheld, but it was the first to get into the hands of enough people to make it a household name that people recognize.

iPod wasn't the first portable MP3 player, but, like the Walkman's of the 1980's, it was the first to get the attention that brought it into the thoughts of the mass consumer market.

Microsoft and the PPC licensees made a mistake when they didn't cluster under the name Pocket PC. That was partly because of the fear that PPC would flounder like the Handheld PC / CE devices before them. I really think today's units are much closer to true pocketable PCs than we've ever had and they should be revisiting that focus -- "Put a PC in your pocket."

But, by far, the worst product name ever -- Microsoft Bob. They ruined the name Bob for an entire generation of people. :lol:

[Paul Kay]

Pedantic I know, but

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other WORD would smell as sweet."

Romeo and Juliet Act II

[Brad Adrian]

Years ago, when I worked for a German-owned biomedical company, we were faced with trying to find a name or acronym or abbreviation for some new hospital laboratory equipment. The German marketing group had come up with a tentative name, obviously unaware of how it would become known in the U.S. I won't post the name here, but its 4-letter acronym spelled a vulgar term for a particular part of the female anatomy.

I was the "lucky" one who had to take them aside and have the embarassing discussion of what the term meant in English.

[denivan]

I have an obscure mousemat on my desk (can't remember where I got it from) with advertising on it for an italian manufacturer of industrial power converters. The name of the company is printed in huge letters.
... F.A.R.T ... No kidding, but that's their company name, it might be immature of me, but that just makes me smile everytime I sit at my desk and use my computer ;)

Kind regards,
Ivan

[famousdavis]

Since I married about 11 years ago, my wife -- and then I, too -- began naming our vehicles, a habit that spilled over to our PCs. First it was "Tom Truck" (my '91 Mazda pickup) and "Sally Saturn" (a '94 SL2). Then, when we had kids, it was only natural to name our computer QWERTY, an unimaginative rip-off of VeggieTales' computer. When I bought a Gateway desktop a few years ago, I named it "Gater" (I live in Florida, so the pun was funny to me). When I got my first PPC 18 months ago, I named it "Snapper" (following the theme of "Gater"), and my summer's purchase of a Dell computer yielded "Viper" (my kids love Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter).

Snapper is a terrific name for a PPC. Easily pronounced, easy to remember, and bespeaks of the PPCs instant-on, instant-off capabilities.

If you're reading this thread, Dell, HP, or Toshiba, I want a royalty fee! :-)

[dean_shan]

The PCPro Top 10 Silliest technology product names does not include any PDAs, but should it? ;-)

Maybe it should. My parents were raised in an age when PDA meant 'Public Display of Affection'. So when I started buying PDAs they would laugh when they heard me call it that. I soon broke them of that habit.

[dean_shan]

I have an obscure mousemat on my desk (can't remember where I got it from) with advertising on it for an italian manufacturer of industrial power converters. The name of the company is printed in huge letters.
... F.A.R.T ... No kidding, but that's their company name, it might be immature of me, but that just makes me smile everytime I sit at my desk and use my computer ;)

Made me laugh just reading it. I guess I'm a little immature too. BTW where can I get one of those pads? ;)

[Jonathon Watkins]

Pedantic I know, but

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other WORD would smell as sweet."

Romeo and Juliet Act II

Hmmm, I googled for the quote and I got something different. Still, I googled for this one and it came up OK as well. Still, this one has better references (including your good self). Changed. :)

I used to like the iPAQ name - before the devalued it with the meaningless numbers and letters for models.

[Damion Chaplin]

Clie -- is it "clee A" or just "cleee"?

I kept calling it CLEEE, because I thought CLEE-A sounded stupid. Then I called their tech support, and they all called it a CLEE-A. :|

Years ago, when I worked for a German-owned biomedical company, we were faced with trying to find a name or acronym or abbreviation for some new hospital laboratory equipment. The German marketing group had come up with a tentative name, obviously unaware of how it would become known in the U.S. I won't post the name here, but its 4-letter acronym spelled a vulgar term for a particular part of the female anatomy.

I was the "lucky" one who had to take them aside and have the embarassing discussion of what the term meant in English.

That reminds me of what the Japanese were originally going to call the Gameboy. The had wanted to call it the HANDJ*B. Someone over there had to explain the American idiom to them...

[Daviddjr]

Clie -- is it "clee A" or just "cleee"?

I kept calling it CLEEE, because I thought CLEE-A sounded stupid. Then I called their tech support, and they all called it a CLEE-A. :|

You know if they had an Accent mark over the E it would have been a lot easier to get people to pronounce it right. They pronounce it like the French would with an accent but don't have the accent.

Clie to me was always a bad name. And Sony screwed it up even more by giving the devices bad names too...PEG-NR70V?!?

I totally agree with the naming of the iPaqs too. Way to freaking confusing.

I think the Palm Zire is as pretty stupid name. Although I do think Handspring did pretty good with the Visor but then making them Visor This and Visor That made it a little confusing.

Speaking of Palm what is the deal with the Pa1mOne logo?

I'm sure I'll think of more as the days progress.

Take care,
David Devaney, Jr.

[Prevost]

Probably since it is an Spanish word, I like the name Jornada...here that is pronounced very naturally.

[Darius Wey]

I kept calling it CLEEE, because I thought CLEE-A sounded stupid. Then I called their tech support, and they all called it a CLEE-A. :|

Well it's like Sony's WEGA...do you pronounce it Vay-gar, or Way-gar?

[quidproquo]

It all revolves around the name.... just like a slogan... like "It's the economy stupid". :lol:

My T-Mobile PPC Phone never really had a cool name.... but needed one.... like .....uh...... OK ....I see why these PDA's don't all have cool names... takes too much creativity.