Now that Apple has finally made public their new iPad, people seem disappointed in its name. One reporter today said, "I am certain no women were in the room when they came up with that name."

No kidding!

Celebrity Apple fanboy Stephen Fry's take on the iPad: http://www.stephenfry.com/2010/01/28/ipad-about/.

Now it's even harder to understand Americans from Great Lakes cities.

(There's a vowel shift in that region that means some people's pronunciation of "iPod" will sound the same as "iPad" to someone outside the region.)

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"I am certain no women were in the room when they came up with that name."

According to Stephen Colbert (or was it Jon Stewart?), there was: she vetoed the name TamPod

OMG. I heard the tail end of a remark about ipad on an irreverent radio talk show & assumed it was a juvenile joke. That's actually the product name? Ewwww!

Here's one spoof, and my husband sent me this one last week before I realized the thing actually was named "iPad." My reaction, then and now: "Gross!"

From what I read in the paper, there are several other companies which already have electronic devices which they market under the name of iPad and they are all trying to beat down the very tough negotiator Steve Jobs and likely to lose.

Even in spite of the name, I think that this will be a very popular item, though I would not like a keyboard where I couldn't feel the location of the keys. What's the use of "touch typing" if you have to keep looking at where your fingers are landing?

Wordmatic

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Now it's even harder to understand Americans from Great Lakes cities.

Yes, the NY Times mentions that in their article about the new iPad. They say

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People from Boston to Ireland are complaining that “iPad,” in their regional brogue, sounds almost indistinguishable from “iPod,” Apple’s music player.

Interestingly, the online version is lacking something from the hard copy (I've not seen that before!); in the newspaper they add, "The problem may be worse outside the United States; Japanese does not even have a sound for the 'a' in iPad." Is that true, z?

I also thought it funny that iTampon became the most popular topic on Twitter.

However, as a woman, I think this whole thing has been way overplayed. The pad in it surely doesn't bother me. No matter what they named it, there would have been complaints. People are just jealous of how much more innovative Apple is than other computer or phone companies. (Again...my opinion, and I know many disagree with me.)

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
"The problem may be worse outside the United States; Japanese does not even have a sound for the 'a' in iPad."

Japanese has 5 vowels: /i e u o a/. The /a/ is between the vowel of "iPod" and the vowel of "iPad". But that doesn't stop them using words with the English vowels. They often transliterate English words based on the spelling, not the pronunciation. "iPod" is sometimes written アイポッド aipoddo, even tho the Japanese o doesn't sound the same as the English sound spelled with "o". And I see that "iPad" is sometimes written アイパッド aipaddo, even tho the Japanese a doesn't sound the same as the English sound spelled with "a".

This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy,

To buy the premier unit, ask the clerk for the MaxiPad.

Aren't things like this the reason my internet keeps getting slower and slower, and the sewer keeps clogging??

A Japanese friend once told me that the names "Don" and "Dan" sounded the same to her.

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Originally posted by tinman:
A Japanese friend once told me that the names "Don" and "Dan" sounded the same to her.

Yeah, they would.