After the successful discovery of iPhone 4 here we are back with Apple’s i-world. Are you confused with title? 😉 ,  OK! As we all know Apple started naming many of its feature/tools/apps starting with “i”. There are many stories and rumors about the word “i”.

The i in Apple’s product seems to come from Internet, as their first i-starting product is the iMac, a computer that used to be easily connected to the internet. Apple then just went on on branding their products with a i, as a marketing strategy.

When we started exploring more about iPhone 4 and it feature we found many things starting with “i” like iChat, iPad, iAds and many. When we started digging more about “i” we found 26 products starts with the letter “i”!

Yes! You heard it right. From 1997, Apple has named 26 products with “i”. Here is the list of 26 products and brief intro to it.

1. iAds

Debut: July 1st 2010.

Over $60 Million in 2010 Commitments from Leading Global Brands. iAds combine the emotion of TV advertising with the interactivity of Internet advertising, giving advertisers a dynamic and powerful new way to bring motion and emotion to mobile users. iAd will kick off with mobile ad campaigns from leading global brands including AT&T, Best Buy, Campbell Soup Company, Chanel, Citi, DirecTV, GEICO, GE, JCPenney, Liberty Mutual Group, Nissan, Sears, State Farm,Target, Turner Broadcasting System, Unilever and The Walt Disney Studios.

2. iBook

Debut: July 21, 1999

Discontinued: 2006

The iBook is a line of discontinued laptop computers sold by Apple Inc. between 1999 and 2006.

The line was targeted at the consumer and education markets, with lower specifications and prices than the PowerBook, Apple’s higher-end line of laptop computers.

Three distinct designs of the iBook were introduced during its lifetime.

3. iBoard

Debut: 2012.

Apple also plans to release the iBoard Advanced in time for WWDC, where users can simply tap and hold the iBoard and have it speak allowed the various letters, numbers and symbols. When the desired key-equivalent is spoken, lift up your finger and the symbol will appear on the screen. Users then tap the iBoard to confirm that this is the desired symbol, then it’s on to the next.

4. iChat

Debut: August, 2002

iChat (formerly iChat AV) is an instant messaging software application by Apple Inc. for their Mac OS X operating system. It has audio, video and screen-sharing capabilities as well as text messaging.

iChat bears Apple’s Aqua interface and uses speech bubbles and pictures to personify the online chatting experience. With iChat, green (available), yellow (idle), and red (away) dots can be seen next to the name of each connected user on the buddy list. For color-blind users, this can be altered to show different shapes to illustrate status rather than color.

5. iCal

Debut: September 10, 2002

iCal is a personal calendar application made by Apple Inc. that runs on the Mac OS X operating system. iCal was the first calendar application for Mac OS X to offer support for multiple calendars and the ability to publish/subscribe calendars to WebDAV server.

Features:

• It tracks events and appointments, allows multiple calendar views to quickly identify conflicts and free time.
• iCal allows notification of upcoming events either on screen, by e-mail, SMS or Pager.
• iCal integrates Apple Sync Services to sync its data with MobileMe, devices such as PDA, iPod, iPhone or other mobile phones via iSync and third party software.

6. iCards

Debut: 2005

Discontinued: July 9, 2008

iCards was the online or internet card selection tool which was introduced by Apple on 2005. iCards service was discontinued with the release of MobileMe on July 9, 2008 (2008-07-09).

MobileMe is Apple’s new Internet service for Mac, iPhone, iPod touch, and PC that takes the best of .Mac and adds many new features. With MobileMe you will continue to get services that take advantage of Mac integration such as iDisk, and photo sharing from iPhoto ’08 or later. You also get a suite of new web applications at me.com; email, contacts, and calendar; and 20 GB of online storage.

7. iDVD

Debut: January 9, 2001

Current Version: iDVD ’09

iDVD is a DVD creation software application made by Apple Inc. for Mac OS X. iDVD allows the user to add QuickTime Movies, MP3 music, and digital photos to a DVD that can then be played on a commercial DVD player.

It is often considered the last step of Apple’s iLife suite, bringing together all the other iLife applications’ results onto a removable medium. It is comparable to its Microsoft Windows alternative Windows DVD Maker.

8. iDisk

iDisk is a file hosting service offered by Apple to all MobileMe members that enables them to store their digital photos, movies and personal files online so they can be accessed remotely. With a standard subscription, MobileMe users receive a 20 GB iDisk.

iDisk integrates with Mac OS X, appearing as a network drive. Mac OS X v10.3 through v10.6 can cache updates to an iDisk volume while offline and synchronize updates later. Any WebDAV client can also access an iDisk volume.

Tech Tip: Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning, or WebDAV, is a set of extensions to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that allows computer-users to edit and manage files collaboratively on remote World Wide Web servers.

9. iFrame

Debut: 2009

The iFrame Video format is designed by Apple to speed up importing and editing by keeping the content in its native recorded format while editing. Setting a camcorder to record in the iFrame video format can result in optimized performance in iMovie ’09. iFrame is a computer-friendly video format designed by Apple to simplify the process of working with video recorded with your camera.

10. iGame

Debut: 2010

Apple is set to announce the launch of their long speculated gaming console dubbed the “iGame “.

The iGame is expected to take on Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation in a heavily competitive gaming space. The iGame is expected to include an app store similar to the Xbox marketplace which will allow developers to sell their games directly.

11. iKnow

iKnow is the one of the official site from web.mac.com. It just speaks all about mac products. Even about iPhone OS.

12. iLife

Debut: January 7, 2003

iLife is a suite of software applications developed by Apple for organizing, editing, and publishing photos, movies, and music. The suite comprises five applications: iPhoto, iMovie,iDVD, GarageBand, and iWeb, all of which run on the Mac OS X operating system. The latest release, iLife ’09, was announced on January 6, 2009, and is included with new Mac computers. The suite is also sold standalone.

13. iMac

Debut: 1998

The iMac is a range of all-in-one Macintosh desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple’s consumer desktop offerings since its introduction in 1998, and has evolved through four distinct forms.

The announcement of the iMac in 1998 was a source of discussion and anticipation among commentators, Mac fans, and detractors. Opinions were divided over Apple’s drastic changes to the Macintosh hardware. At the time, Apple was trying to improve its retail strategy. Apple declared that “the back of our computer looks better than the front of anyone else’s”.

Tech Tip: Apple declared the ‘i’ in iMac to stand for “Internet“. It also represented the product’s focus as a personal device (‘i’ for “individual“).

14. iMovie

Debut: 1999

iMovie is a proprietary video editing software application which allows Mac users to edit their own home movies.

iMovie imports video footage to the Mac using either the FireWire interface on most MiniDV format digital video cameras, the USB port, or by importing the files from a hard drive. From there, the user can edit the video clips, add titles, and add music. Effects include basic color correction and video enhancement tools, and transitions such as fade-in, fade-out, and slides.

15. iMat

Debut: 2014

Steve job said “The quest for a bigger and better iMat doesn’t stop from there – four years from now, the cupertino based company, will give another revolutionary product that everyone will appreciate, even babies. Let me present you, the iMat”.

So as of now we do not know what is iMat about 🙂  If anyone knows please feel free to share 🙂

16. iOS

Debut: January 9, 2007

Current Version: iOS 4

iOS (previously named iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the default (and only supported) operating system of the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and the iPad.

It is derived from Mac OS X, with which it shares the Darwin foundation, and is therefore a Unix-like operating system by nature.

17. iPod

Debut: October 23, 2001

The iPod is a portable media player designed and marketed by Apple. As of June 2010, the product line-up includes the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the video-capable iPod Nano, and the compact iPod Shuffle. The iPhone can function as an iPod but is generally treated as a separate product. Former iPod models include the iPod Mini and the spin-off iPod Photo (since reintegrated into the main iPod Classic line). iPod Classic models store media on an internal hard drive, while all other models use flash memory to enable their smaller size (the discontinued Mini used a Microdriveminiature hard drive).

As with many other digital music players, iPods can also serve as external data storage devices. Storage capacity varies by model, ranging from 2 GB for the iPod Shuffle to 160 GB for the iPod Classic.

18. iPhoto

Debut: 2002

iPhoto is a software application made exclusively for their Mac OS X operating system. It is part of the iLife suite of applications and comes bundled with every new Macintosh computer. iPhoto can import, organize, edit, print and share digital photos. It is often compared to Google’s Picasa,CyberLink MediaShow, Adobe’s Photoshop Album, Microsoft Expression Media and Windows Photo Gallery. iLife 09, including the current version of iPhoto, was announced on January 6, 2009.

19. iPad

Debut: April 3, 2010

The iPad is a tablet computer designed, developed and marketed by Apple. It was released in April 2010; by June 1, Apple had sold 2 million iPads.

Similar to the older (and smaller) iPod Touch and iPhone, the iPad runs a modified version of the iOS and is controlled by a multi-touch display sensitive to fingertips, instead of a stylusas with earlier tablet computers. It runs iPad-specific applications as well as those written for the iPhone and iPod Touch, including e-book readers.

The iPad uses Wi-Fi or a 3G data connection to browse the Internet, load and stream media, and install software. A USB cable is required to sync the iPad with iTunes on a personal computer.

20. iPhone

Debut: June 29, 2007

Current Version: iPhone 4

The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smarty phones. An iPhone functions as a camera phone (also including text messaging and visual voice mail), a portable media player (equivalent to a videoiPod), and an Internet client (with e-mail, web browsing, and Wi-Fi connectivity).

The user interface is built around the device’s multi-touch screen, including a virtual keyboard rather than a physical one. Third-party applications are available from the App Store, which launched in mid-2008 and now has well over 200,000 “apps” approved by Apple. These apps have diverse functionalists , including games, reference, GPS navigation, social networking, and advertising for television shows, films, and celebrities.

21. iSight

Debut: 2003

iSight is a web cam, both external and internal. The external iSight was, connected to a computer via a Fire Wire cable and came with a set of mounts to place it atop any current Apple display, laptop computer, all-in-one desktop computer, or flat surface. The term is now used to refer to the camera built into Apple’s iMac, MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro computers and to the LED Cinema Display.

22. iSync

Debut: January 2, 2003

iSync is a software application which runs only under Mac OS X and is used to synchronize contact and calendar data from Address Book and iCal with many non-AppleSyncML-enabled mobile phones via a Blue tooth or USB connection.

Prior to the release of Mac OS X 10.4, iSync could also synchronize a user’s Safari bookmarks with the MobileMe subscription service provided by Apple.

23. iTunes

Debut: January 9, 2001

iTunes is a digital media player application, used for playing and organizing digital music and video files. The application is also an interface to manage the contents on Apple’s popular iPod and other digital media players such as the iPhone and iPad. Additionally, iTunes can connect to the iTunes Store via the Internet to purchase and download music, music videos, television shows, iPod games, audio books, podcast, feature length films and movie rentals (not available in all countries), and ring tones (only used for iPhone). It is also used to download applications for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad running iOS 2.0 or later.

24. iTools

Debut: January 5, 2000

It is a subscription-based collection of online services. Services offered by iTools included the first availability of @mac.com e-mail addresses, for use through a web-based interface or other applications such as Outlook Express.

iCards, a free greeting card service; iReview, a collection of reviews of popular web sites; Home Page, a free web page publishing service; the first version of iDisk, an online data storage system; and Kid Safe, a directory of family-friendly web sites.

History of iTools:

• January 5, 2000: iTools
• July 17, 2002: .Mac
• June 9, 2008: MobileMe

25. iWork

Debut: January 11, 2005

iWork is an office suite of desktop applications created by Apple for the Mac OS X and  iPhone OS operating systems.

The suite originally bundled Keynote, a presentation program which had previously been sold as a standalone application, and Pages, a combined word processing and page layout application. In 2007, Apple released iWork ’08, which contained a new spreadsheet application, Numbers.

iWork also includes access to iWork.com, a beta service that allows users to upload and share documents online with others, who can download them and give feedback. iWork integrates with existing applications from Apple’s iLife suite through the Media Browser, which allows users to drag and drop music from iTunes, movies from iMovie, and photos from iPhoto and Aperture directly into iWork documents.

26. iWeb

Debut: January 10, 2006

iWeb is a template-based WYSIWYG website creation tool. The first version of iWeb was announced at the Macworld Conference & Expo on January 10, 2006 as part of the iLife ’06 suite of digital lifestyle applications. The latest version was released as part of the iLife ’09 suite on January 6, 2009. iWeb allows users to create websites and blogs and customize them with their own text, photos and movies. Users can then publish their websites to MobileMe or another hosting service. In addition to its ability to publish to MobileMe, iWeb integrates with other services, including Facebook, YouTube, Google AdSense and Google Maps.

OK! We are done with it. Please feel free to share your thoughts and correct us if we are wrong anywhere. Thanks for reading ! Cheers 🙂