Time to kill the "PowerMac" name....?

serpicolugnut

serpicolugnut

OS X Supreme Being
Apple has used the "PowerMac" name for it's line of Pro computers since 1994, when the first Macs with PPC chips arrived. That's 8 years ago - a long time in the world of marketing...

With the advent of xServe, I would love to see Apple ditch the "PowerMac" name, and replace it's pro line with the "xMac". It would be nice if it looked like the xServe too (as someone's mock-up suggested). I don't think it would cost too much - after all, you can get a good aluminum PC case that looks similar to the mockup for around $100.

I'd also like to see the Powerbook line renamed "xBook".

So you would have ...
iMac
iBook
xMac
xBook
xServe

Is anyone really tied to the "PowerMac" name?
 
Originally posted by serpicolugnut
Apple has used the "PowerMac" name for it's line of Pro computers since 1994, when the first Macs with PPC chips arrived. That's 8 years ago - a long time in the world of marketing...

With the advent of xServe, I would love to see Apple ditch the "PowerMac" name, and replace it's pro line with the "xMac". It would be nice if it looked like the xServe too (as someone's mock-up suggested). I don't think it would cost too much - after all, you can get a good aluminum PC case that looks similar to the mockup for around $100.

I'd also like to see the Powerbook line renamed "xBook".

So you would have ...
iMac
iBook
xMac
xBook
xServe

Is anyone really tied to the "PowerMac" name?
Click to expand...

Xmac, Xbook and Xserve, you traitor! ;)
 
I like the name. sorry. I like being a power user. So why the "x". What does that stand for? "e" is for education. and "i" is for internet.
 
some misdirected animosity!

Jeesh! It's just a suggestion...

The "x" stands for "OS X", as it does for the "xServe"....

Say, I got a great idea! Why does Coca-Cola dump the "Coke" name (one that's been around for decades) and replace it with "New Coke"? I bet something like that would be used in B-school marketing courses as one of the all-time greating marketing decisions! Yeah, that's the ticket.
Click to expand...

That analogy doesn't hold up - because what Coke did was change the PRODUCT. Apple changes the product every 6 months or so (if were lucky), and radically redefines the product every couple of years.

All I'm suggesting is that the marketing term "PowerMac" is a bit long in the tooth. It originally served to distinguish the PPC Macs from the old '040 Macs. That doesn't hold up anymore.

My logic in suggesting "xMac" is this: the one thing that's really driving new customers to Macs right now is OS X. Having a product name that evokes that image of OS X (or the "x" in this case) is a good one.

Jeeesh. With this reaction, you'd have thought I suggested Bill Gates should quit Microsoft and take a job at Apple... Damn!
 
I like the name. sorry. I like being a power user.
Click to expand...

Yeah, so do I. But I don't need "PowerMac" on the box to tell me that I just spent $3000 on the top of the line machine....

Think about it. The only place "PowerMac" appears is on the box, the manuals, and in advertising. It's just a marketing term, not a paradigm shift.

;)
 
Originally posted by serpicolugnut
some misdirected animosity!

Jeesh! It's just a suggestion...

The "x" stands for "OS X", as it does for the "xServe"....



That analogy doesn't hold up - because what Coke did was change the PRODUCT. Apple changes the product every 6 months or so (if were lucky), and radically redefines the product every couple of years.

All I'm suggesting is that the marketing term "PowerMac" is a bit long in the tooth. It originally served to distinguish the PPC Macs from the old '040 Macs. That doesn't hold up anymore.

My logic in suggesting "xMac" is this: the one thing that's really driving new customers to Macs right now is OS X. Having a product name that evokes that image of OS X (or the "x" in this case) is a good one.

Jeeesh. With this reaction, you'd have thought I suggested Bill Gates should quit Microsoft and take a job at Apple... Damn!
Click to expand...

The X in Xserve actually stands for "cross" as in cross platform server.

Naming everything Xsomething sounds kind of silly. I do think though it is becoming time for Apple to move beyond the "Mac" all together.

What the PowerMacs are lacking most in now-a-days is power. It's a very recognizable brand name so Apple has every right to not want to drop it.

Hopefully though they will stop reinventing the wheel and come out with something completely new in the future for consumer desktops, kind of like what they did with the Xserve in the server market.
 
Eh, no offense or anything, but I'm getting really tired of the letter X, in general. People just LOVE the way it sounds, but the past few years, it's gotten kind of annoying. X this, X that. I can understand why Apple used X... it's a roman numeral. However, EVERYBODY uses it for everything from Xtreme-this to Windows "eXPerience." Thus, X has become somewhat of an annoyance to me. And eX is going to sound cliche in a few years

XServe is okay. I can take one more product. But renaming my PowerBook and the PowerMac series seems a bit much to me.

just my 2/100ths of a dollar.
 
hmm. I'd prefer to be rid of the name Macintosh, but it's Mac OS, etc, and there is a lot to change there.. However, I think Apple should go with the Apple name.. and stick with it. They can name the compters in stages.. or something. Think about it: we can have the Apple stage I, the Apple II, the Apple IIGS... errr..

nevermind.

But seriously, I really think that Macintosh as a name really doesn't speak to what we run today.
 
What about just givin them their code-name, i.e. sawtooth or quicksilver. They sound mean enough to be a powerful machine.:D

I don;t see what demographic would have a problem with that, since mac users call them that anyways, and it would help get PC-users past that stigma associated with macs. Now instead of getting made fun of for buying a mac, they get a sick machine that everyone will like to talk about, because its name is "Quicksilver." Now, that's a name that rolls off the tongue. :p
 
Yeah, system X would be cool. and forget the "10". just System X.1.5 pronounced "ten point one point five"
 
I deleted my previous post so that I could attach a text file with the stupid table in it :)

They should call it System X (pronounced System 10).

This is the way Apple has been naming their products and I think it's fine.
 

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