Do you think Apple made a branding mistake when they released the iPod touch?

it’s only a branding mistake if people don’t know it’s apple’s product. no danger there.

You may have a point here. Never thought about it that way, but I find myself also calling it an iTouch.

I hear iTouch a lot and I’m not sure how I feel about the position Apple has put the consumers in. On the first hand… everyone knows that it’s still an Apple product. No problem there. But, on the other hand, Apple has created a bit of confusion with its latest batch of iPods.

In the past, all iPods have had names that refer to their size. iPod Mini was always called Mini by consumers. iPod Nano is the Nano. But now, we’ve got the iPod Classic, which can’t really be shortened (except to iPod, I guess) , and the iPod Touch, which is essentially an iPhone marketed as an iPod with a phone. This is something totally different and consumers are clearly struggling with the naming convention. Is it an iPod? Doesn’t look like one. Is it an iPhone? It doesn’t act like one. Does this hurt them? I don’t know… consumers are adding the “i” on their own, which always means Apple. And they’re not losing the “Touch” part, which is the unique aspect of this particular iPod. And I don’t think consumers ever run the risk of walking into a Best Buy and asking for an “iTouch” and getting turned away because the clerk has never heard of it.

Interesting question. I really don’t think it hurts them, but it is a bit of a marketing misstep.

No. The brand recognition lives through the “I”. If anything, apple gets credited for the “touch” innovative feature when people refer to it as the “iTouch” .

As long as that “i” is in there it’s all gravy, baby! The iPhone isn’t the iPod phone, and I think Apple may have screwed up using “pod” in the Touch! It’s not like any other iPod!

Mmm, although I don’t feel it damages saleability, I do get the impression that over the next few years the word “iPod” could lose the impact it once had as a result of the iPod touch, and the loss of a simple ‘iPod standalone’ model. Plus, “iTouch” is a fairly ugly sounding word.

You’re right, they’re going to need to right the ship with the next refresh. This might not be too hard. You have to imagine that most future iPods will have the touch capabilities, so it’s likely they’ll need to step away from that as the name (since it won’t mean much).

I’m just annoyed bysimiliar the itouch and iPhone look. Its so easy to buy the wrong accessory for one or the other. Luckily I’ve been careful but I think a case for an itouch could easily be mistaken for an iPhone case and then there would be no opening for you to hear. Maybe I’m being to picky I just think they should have been designed in a different color atleast.

@johnny: I completely agree… and love how you actually used “iTouch” in your answer :). Case in point there.

I don’t think that they are too worried at this time about internal brand dilution. If they are smart they have probably trademarked “iTouch:” just in case…. There is a bit of cannibalization occuring over the entire iPod product line, but I’m sure that the Apple marketing dept. has calculated this down to the penny.

i hate when people call it the iTouch, because that would be like if people called the iPod Nano the iNano

@johnny well they are now with the new iPhone 3G. That should tell them apart