We have all lain awake, mind racing through life’s small mysteries.
Chicken or egg, drinks touched by dinosaurs, or what the ‘I’ in iPhone actually means.
No? Just me then.
If you have ever wondered how the iPhone got its name, here’s the answer.
Steve Jobs launched the first iPhone.
The first iPhone arrived in 2007.
People first noticed the logo and asked about the apple image.
Some guessed it referenced Adam and Eve, others thought of Isaac Newton’s fallen apple.
Graphic designer Rob Janoff called those ideas a “wonderful urban legend.”
But what about the little ‘i’?
Social media filled with theories.
Suggestions included “intelligent”, “indispensable”, and simply “my phone.”
Any ideas? (John Keeble/Getty Images)
Fortunately, Steve Jobs explained the ‘I’ back in 1998.
According to Reader’s Digest, Jobs said the ‘I’ stood for “internet, individual, instruct, inform and inspire.”
He also made clear the ‘I’ “didn’t have an official meaning.”
Jobs suggested it could mean the personal pronoun “I” or serve as “instruction” for training Apple’s staff.
Many people reacted once the meaning (sort of) became public.
They really got you with it standing for five different words didn’t they? (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
On TikTok and YouTube, users shared their guesses.
One wrote, “I thought it was i for myself.”
Another said, “i thought it was because os iOS.”
A YouTube comment joked, “I guess you could say, ‘i’ didn’t know this before.”
Someone admitted, “This is what i wondered last night when i was trying to sleep…”
Many readers clearly related to that late-night curiosity.