Digital Trends
Chip-maker Intel has announced a formal name for its forthcoming “Nehalem” line of desktop processors: they will be officially known as Intel Core i7, and will including a black-logo’d “Extreme Edition” for its highest-end configurations.
“The Core name is and will be our flagship PC processor brand going forward,” said Intel executive VP Sean Maloney in a statement. “Expect Intel to focus even more marketing resources around that name and the Core i7 products starting now.”
The term “Gmail” may commonly represent a reference to Google’s popular e-mail service, but in Germany, Google was beaten to the punch on the name game. Daniel Giersch, founder of G-mail, took Google to German court nearly three years ago over use of the name. On Wednesday, a court ruled in Giersch’s favor, banning Google from using the name in Germany.
Giersch has been using the G-mail name since 2000 for his hybrid mail system, leading to the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court’s judgement that "Google infringed the young businessman’s trademark that had been previously been registered." The German businessman has said that he has no plans to sell the name to Google, and will continue to use it for his own venture.
Version 2.0 of the free open-source Gaim instant-messaging client was released Friday under its new moniker, Pidgin. The name change was necessitated after a drawn-out scuffle with AOL over their “AIM” trademark.
After the original name of “GTK+ AOL Instant Messenger” created a stir with AOL, the developers switched to Gaim in subsequent releases, but the battle persisted. Following the advice of their lawyers, Gaim developers kept quiet about the struggle until recently, when they changed the name after working things out in a settlement with AOL.
Apple and Cisco have put their feud over rights to use the iPhone name behind them, announcing an agreement which lets both companies use the name on their products throughout the world.
The agreement settles almost two months of limbo for Apple’s much-anticipated iPhone entry into the mobile phone market, which will combine features of a mobile phone, Internet-enabled PDA, and (of course) Apple’s iconic iPod music players. Apple announced the iPhone at Macworld Expo in early January; Cisco immediately filed suit claiming it owned the trademark and its subsidiary Linksys was currently shipping VoIP handsets under the name. Apple called the suit “silly,” but apparently the companies managed to engage in talks, agreeing not once but twice to extend settlement deadlines.
In the never ending saga of the comings and goings of the AT&T brand name and other brands it has either assumed or been absorbed by, Advertising Age reported yesterday that the
Ah, to live in an age where produce codenames make so much more sense than real product names!
Nintendo has been referring to their next-generation gaming console by its codename “Revolution” for some time, but today the game company took the wraps off the products official name.
Get ready for it: Wii.
Nintendo says the name Wii sounds just like “we,” emphasizing the console is intended for everyone, not just traditional gaming audiences, and is a simple name which can easily be understood worldwide, without abbreviation, regardless of language. The double-i spelling is supposed to symbolize both the system’s unique controllers as well as people coming together to play.
In a tale of coming full circle, mobile device maker palmOne, once known to many as Palm before it split into two companies, is back as Palm Inc. (or just simply Palm, if you prefer). The company announced the name change, NASDAQ ticker change (PALM instead of PLMO) and logo change today.
In its original incarnation as Palm Inc. it spun off palmOne and PalmSource in late 2003. The agreement at the time was to share the brand name between the two companies. Since that time, according to a company press release, customers have come to identify the Palm brand name with the hardware which is found on store shelves and online.
The name change will apply worldwide to both the company and its products. The management team sees two good reasons for this change:
1. The recent Mandrakesoft – Conectiva merger calls for a new identity that better represents the combination of two key companies and their global presence.
2. The long-winding trademark lawsuit with Hearst Corporation has reached a point where we decided it is more reasonable for us to move forward. By adopting a new name, we eliminate the liability attached to the Mandrakesoft name and we can focus on what is important to us: developing and delivering great technology and solutions to both our customers and our user community.
Although Microsoft will not be officially announcing their new game console until E3 along with Sony and Nintendo, someone at the company has let the new name slip out into the press. From what we can tell Engadget has the first scoop too. The name “Xbox 360″ doesn’t sound half bad and probably has some sort of symbolic meaning, but until we know more this is all speculation.
You can thank Engadget for breaking the story on this one.
The EU has requested that Microsoft change the name of their new media free Windows operating system. According to BetaNews, the comission is concerned that the name is uninspired and consequently will have the affect of being unattractive to customers.
“We have agreed to make the change,” said Microsoft spokesperson Stacy Drake in a statement. “We’re working together with the commission to come up with an alternative name.”
Under the ruling, Microsoft is required to strip Windows Media Player from European editions of its flagship operating system for abusing its monopoly power.
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