14 DAY TRIAL // After Apple re-branded the PowerBooks under the new MacBook Pro name, it was commonly believed that the iBooks would suffer a similar fate and come to be known as MacBooks.
The new names serve to better distinguish the old Macs, using IMB PowerPC architecture from the new generation using Intel processors. As Steve Jobs himself said at the unveiling of the new MacBook Pro in January, the new names also serve to better leverage and distinguish the company's 'Mac' trademark and brand along with the personal computer offerings.
While the replacing of the iBook name with MacBook would be a logical and widely expected move, up until now, it had not yet been confirmed. Now, a Apple filing for a trademark on the term 'MacBook' has surfaced. The date of the filing is February 22, 2006, and was made at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It describes MacBook as "computers, notebook computers, computer hardware, computer software, computer peripherals." This is only one filing, and one day later, a nearly identical MacBook filing turned up in New Zealand.
While Apple is in the habit of making many such filings, and it may yet release the new iBooks under another name, it seems unlikely seeing as how they are the consumer version of the MacBook Pro, and MacBook fits the bill so perfectly.