iThis iTime iApple iDots iThe "i"

Apple is a great marketing company. And as Bill pointed out in his post here earlier today, they also make some pretty good products; the kind that sneak into your life and then become so integral to the way you live that you really miss them when they're gone.

For Bill it's his iPad. For me, it's the older, but just as cool, iPod. I have the 60Gb version loaded with more than 50 days worth of music. That's right. I can carry around 50 days worth of tunes in my shirt pocket.

But as great as Apple's products are, I have to admit that I'm getting really sick of the "i" nomenclature. Not everything in the world needs an "i" in front of it. Apple, however, disagrees.

Yesterday at its World-Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco Apple once again tagged everything it could with an "i". First, there was the new iPhone 4. Then there was its new operating system, iOS.

And guess what? This time around Apple wasn't iSued.

You see, three years ago when Apple first introduced the iPhone it didn't get permission to use the term "iPhone," which was a trademark owned by Cisco. The companies eventually settled out of court with the terms undisclosed.

This time around, Apple got the OK up front from Cisco to use the term "iOS," which Cisco has been using for more than a decade for its Internetwork Operating System.

For my money, I'd like to see Apple drop the entire boring iBrand and go back to creative names such as Macintosh and Newton.