When the iPhone 5 sees its release date in 2012, the biggest controversy may not be whether users like the inevitably redesigned body style or whether features like faster 4G LTE networking and the faster A6 microprocessor are included. Instead, the biggest brouhaha may be over what Apple ultimately decides on for the device’s name. If the iPhone 4 was the fourth generation iPhone, then is the new iPhone 4S the fifth generation? If so, that would make the next iPhone the sixth generation model. I say that won’t stop Apple from giving the product the kind of brand name which user are expecting: iPhone 5. But a respected colleague of mine says he’ll be shocked if Apple uses that name, saying that he believes the sixth gen iPhone should more accurately be called iPhone 6. If neither of those names ends up flying straight, the compromise might be “iPhone LTE” which just might work despite how stupid it sounds. Part of the question, however, depends on how Apple views the current iPhone 4S in a generational sense, and whether Apple is pleased with the results of its past decision to name a certain iPhone model after a networking technology. It also might depend on just when in 2012 Apple decides to give the iPhone 5 a release date…

It’s important to note that Apple has never much cared for adding generational numbers to products. Nearly every iMac model over the past thirteen years has been officially known simply as “iMac” and not iMac 2, iMac 3, etc. It was the same story for the traditional iPod model. Sure, variants like “iPod photo” and “iPod nano” have crept into the nomenclature. But the flagship classic iPod was continually branded as “iPod” for its first six generations before finally becoming “iPod classic” for its most recent few generations. There was never an “iPod 2″ designation for the second generation iPod; in fact the term “second generation iPod” was coined by users and the media as a common reference terminology and nothing to do with Apple. Similarly, the first iPhone was called “iPhone” and the second iPhone wasn’t called iPhone 2; instead it was called “iPhone 3G” because Apple wanted to promote the fact that it employed 3G networking. So Apple has shown some more willingness in recent years to add an alphanumeric suffix of some kind to its new generation models. But it’s worth pointing out that more often than not Apple has paid no attention to generational numbers when naming its iPhones. The second was known as iPhone 3G; the third was the iPhone 3GS, with the “3″ in its name being totally coincidental to to fact that it happened to be the third generation iPhone. The iPhone 4 was, then, the first iPhone to be named after its generation. And it could be the last…

If Apple considers the iPhone 4S to be a new iPhone generation and thus the fifth, that means the next one will be the sixth. But does that matter when it comes to naming the device? I say no. Ever since Apple launched the iPhone 4 nearly a year and a half ago, the public has been expecting the next iPhone to sport a redesigned outer body to be called the iPhone 5. Those expectations won’t change over the next six to nine months while we await its release date. If Apple calls the next one “iPhone 6″ in order to signify that it’s the sixth generation model, most consumers won’t get it. Instead, they’ll be asking “Why did they skip 5, was the iPhone 5 canceled, what happened?” It’ll create needless confusion among the public and, worse, arouse suspicion that Apple is “trying to pull something by skipping a generation.” Those in the know when it comes to Apple’s complicated iPhone naming history would understand it, but that’s not most people. I’d bet real money the next iPhone isn’t called iPhone 6. But if my colleague is right and Apple ends up not wanting to name it iPhone 5 either, what would be left?

The one feature we’re all fairly certain the next iPhone will have is 4G LTE networking. Apple can’t call it “iPhone 4G” for two reasons. One is that it’s already beaten the number 4 to death with regard to the iPhone. The other is that 4G is old news, as carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile have been pushing slower quasi-4G for some time. It’s the “LTE” part of 4G LTE that signifies newer faster networking. If Apple wants to go the “iPhone 3G” route and name this next iPhone after the networking qualities it’s about to gain, the brand name would ultimately be iPhone LTE. But from a marketing perspective, which is the one which matters when it comes to naming a product, “iPhone 5″ would make infinitely more sense. We’ll all find out once its release date arrives next year. 

Source - [ beatweek.com ]