Tim Cook Suggests the Next iPhone Might Be Named After Its Key Feature

During his interview with D10 hosts Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed to the attending audience that the S in iPhone 4S stands for Siri, the digital assistant exclusive to this iPhone iteration (so far).

“A lot of people ask me that about iPad,” Cook said. “If you look back at iPod, we had an iPod and we changed it a few times and we kept calling it iPod. When we announced a new one and we called it iPod Mini. When we changed it massively we called it Nano.”

He went on to say, “You can stick with the name and people generally love that, or you can put a number at the end which denotes the generation."

"And if you keep the same industrial design, as in the case of the 4S, some people might say it stands for Siri or speed. We were thinking of Siri when we did it. For the 3GS we were thinking of speed,” Cook explained.

Earlier this year, Apple introduced the third-generation iPad which many (everyone) believed would be called the iPad 3. It was a no-brainer, considering Apple had named the previous model iPad 2. But the company had different plans with the dubbing of its now-fully-fledged tablet computer. They called it “the new iPad.”

Leaks are now beginning to churn up considerable amounts of information about the next-generation iPhone which the media still refers to as “the iPhone 5.”

Whether it’s to make a headline more attractive, or to stay consistent across coverage of this highly-anticipated product, people still need an indicator that this really is “the new iPhone” or, better yet, the “next” iPhone. And that indicator is the numbering right now.

Apple could well name the iPhone 5 after its best feature, just like it did with the iPhone 4S. We know it will have a 3D maps app, and a new design as well. You can kick off your own theories in the comments.

Then again, the new iPad has a Retina display but the product’s name says nothing about it.

In any case, don’t expect any confirmation at WWDC. Tim Cook has more Mac-centric plans for this event kicking off in less than two weeks from now. The best we can expect is an iOS 6 demo.

This is a Personal Thoughts piece reflecting the author’s “personal” opinion on matters relating to Apple and / or the products associated with the Apple brand. This article should not be taken as the official stance of Softpedia on Apple-related matters.