I just tweeted this about Apple’s new gadget:
iPad does not appear to be a woman-friendly name/perfect example of why we need more women in the IT game.
A bunch of women tweeters joined me with a big “amen.”
I suspect a room full of female computer engineers would not have named Apple’s new cyber tablet the ‘iPad.’
This naming faux pas is a perfect example of why we need more women IT professionals in this world. Apple wants women to buy these gizmos but is anyone really thinking about us gals?
“It’s all a bunch of guys in a room going ‘We’ll go with whatever we say. No one will argue with us,’” said Richard Laermer, author of Punk Marketing.
It seems like we need more women in that room.
Women control more than 83 percent of all consumer purchases, including 66 percent of home computers, and they outpace men when it comes to buying consumer electronics, but they hold only 27 percent of computer-related jobs, according to a study by the National Center for Women & Information Technology.
And from 1983 to 2006, the study found, the number of computer science bachelor’s degrees awarded to women plummeted to 21 percent from 36 percent.
“It’s been a steady decline since the 1980s,” says Lucy Sanders, CEO of the center. “The participation of women in IT has never been strikingly high, but now it’s getting worse.”
I know, the name iPad is sort of funny when you think about it. One of my Facebook guy friends Richard made me laugh with his interpretation:
Finally, a pad that men can’t pretend to be too embarrassed to purchase!!
But deep down this is anything but a laughing matter.
Maybe Apple didn’t do enough research. “I was amazed to see that Apple did not think through their choice of names for the iPad — this particular spoof was both on Mad TV and a hit on YouTube well before Apple even announced they were thinking about coming out with a tablet,” pointed out Michal Ann Strahilevitz, associate professor of marketing at Golden Gate University.
Will you be buying the iPad? Gail Sideman with PUBLISIDE Personal Publicity in Milwaukee thinks you will.
“I can say from a women’s perspective, today’s announcement of iPad falls into a someone ’stupid’ name,” she admits, “but I don’t think the moniker will hurt sales of the new device. I think people will continue to make fun of how the name relates to feminine products, but its features and Apple’s reputation for funky, high-performing machines will allow the talk to dissipate.”
Maybe we should think twice about buying products with idiotic names like iPad. I can just hear the jokes if a woman is using the thing too much: “She’s on the rag again.”
January 27th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
“iTab” might have been a better option.
“iFlat”? No.
“iScreen”?
“iLike”? Why not?
“iMobile”? Possibly.
iDunno. iGiveUp.
January 27th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
your article proves why there are not very many women in IT.
They are too fucking stupid.
Got it?
January 27th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
thanks jonathan. your comment proves so many points i have made over the years.
January 27th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
Well, the name is not optimum fer sure. But I think they were stuck. Not about not thinking about it … nor do I think Apple is anti-woman. far from it. Worked for them - trust me they are not.
First the ‘i’ prefix always bugged me. Talk about painting yourself in a corner. But what I think happened is they could not use iTablet as they are in the US they would get sued by all sorts of religious groups. iTab would have Coca Cola on the litigious train and iSlate - well Washington Post folks are not that friendly - not like Ms Huffington … but je digress
So what else could it be called? i-Port i-Let
It is, what it is. Sad, but it is.
In Canada one of our oldest magazines just recently had to change their name. It is a magazine with a long history chronicling Canadian History for 90 years called The Beaver. Lets talk about that for a bit!
January 27th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
iTablet would have worked.
And how funny, The Beaver.
Now i would have forgiven Apple if they came up with the name 90 years ago..but today?
January 27th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Eve, I just tweeted about it too and am sure we’ll hear PLENTY about it at the She’s Geeky conference this weekend, but as a name generation gal, I’m btwn bemused and amused; trying not to take it all too seriously.
The flow of fem hygiene jokes (pun intended) makes me shoulder shrug more than cringe in that it COULD have a normalizing-desensitizing component that could be a good thing in terms of normalizing a natural bodily function in some ways…In fact, of the CNN list here http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/27/apple.ipad.reaction the comment, “16gb for light days/32gb 4medium days/64gb 4heavy days” made me smirk.
On the other hand, to envision the far too few women that have chosen to brave the tech terrain (aka guy world) being subjected to sophomoric silliness pains me.
It reminds me of the (literally) handful of females attending the Teens in Tech conference who rolled their eyes at the acronym paraded on the powerpoint presos. (Not a welcome one, lemme tell you; not edgy, not funny, just plain rude, dude)
The iPad DOES makes me wonder about the gender and lexicon of the approval team tho…as touchpad, thinkpad, linkpad have become commonplace geek speak universally.
In fact, I just ran the name/product launch by a few engineer GUYS who didn’t even blink about the name, other than to lambast the weight of the new device as “weapons grade” suggesting the name be iBrik instead. They all talked about price-points being the potential barrier for entry. (again, in the wrong hands, again, I see how this could get ugly, fast)
So here’s the question…if you were Apple would you:
a.) Crowdsource a new name being ‘responsive’ to cust. concerns
b.) Ignore the kerfluffle and let the product wow both genders/speak for itself
c.) Address the concerns quizzically and contextualize them
d.) Focus group it at She’s Geeky among female engineer teams & techies
e.) Stick a numeric/next gen upgrade to deflect
f.) Let people get used to it and see what happens
Lemme know…I feel a blog post comin’ on…
January 27th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
hey amy, i don’t mind a few feminine hygiene jokes. we need to talk about this stuff and not cringe at our bodily functions…well not all of them.
what bugs me is that women are not there to be the influencers, not just in IT but in so many industries. we may be missing the boat on the “green” revolution as well. i wrote about this for MSNBC.com a while back.(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33212547/ns/business-small_business/)
my point was how such a name shines an incredibly bright light on the lack of women in IT.
i would add a “g” to your choices.
g.) get as many women in leadership positions at apple as possible.
there a few if any, points out my colleague helen popkin at MSNBC.com. here’s the rather pathetic leadership bio page from apple. http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/
women have to brave the tech terrain no matter how bumpy. it’s the future. are we going to let another few generations of women be left out in the innovation cold?
January 28th, 2010 at 2:40 am
Wings; does it come with wings or without?
January 28th, 2010 at 11:42 am
Remember when Sony came out with the Walkman? I was one of the first kids to buy it, but I was the last to call it a walkman. Instead, I called it the WalkPerson. Why use a sexist name for technology to be used by men and women?
We have the opportunity to respond to this bad name choice in a positively subversive way– don’t call it the iPad, but instead find a more neutral name that — as we use it– makes the point of rejecting Apple’s not-in-touch-with-female-consumers way.
I’ll call it the iTab, or the IDontGetIt…. how about you?
January 28th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
@telleve I figured the ‘g’ was a GIVEN. heh.
p.s. I’m having trouble with the MSNBC link (is it paywalled?) Haven’t been able to get to the data in your piece, but sure am seeing strong green leadership with the next gen of women passionistas (including the EWF/SkinDeep Search for a Cause alliances with Teens Turning Green who we support fully!)
These teens are an example of savvy, outspoken, branding gurus to boot…awe-inspiring turning femme forward advocacy into policy (e.g. carcinogens/science/school-cleaning products/eco-health-lipsticks without lead/natural beauty products etc.)
Obviously, hoping the next gen emerges as forerunners of cleantech/green tech VC entrepreneurship; hoping to meet several of both (IT/greenies) at She’s Geeky this weekend. Will report back w/word on the iPad hoopla. (hmn, maybe a TwitPoll?
January 28th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
I probably wont be buying one, seems like a giant iPhone to me. The name cracks me up though, from a company that is known for innovation, that was the name that they came up with? Now you make a really good point about the number of women in the IT department. I will never forget walking into the engineering building at my university and seeing not one single woman. The industry definitely can use some diversity.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
I think this is the link to the article:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33212547/ns/business-small_business/
January 29th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
HiTech KoTex
January 31st, 2010 at 6:24 pm
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/showbiz/2010/01/28/ipad.madtv.mov.cnn
especially for the detached Mr. Morse.
February 5th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
This is just ridiculous feminazi language-police bullsh*t….By your own logic, should NASA stop using the term “launching pad” to avoid offending women, or should we stop using “writing pads” for
fear of meaning…you know…women’s hygiene products?? Oh dear! Who might I be offending
by BREATHING?? The whole doctrine of political correctness is based on the distortion of
language. Thanks for providing another example, albeit unwittingly.
February 5th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
P.S. Your ridiculous post is being trashed, justifiably, on talk radio, as I write this.
February 5th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
wow, i hate that word, feminazi. but maybe that is indeed what i am. i’m glad you took the time to comment david. someone else may have just brushed the post off as insanity and never bothered to share their thoughts.
to me the whole iPad naming issue was more a sign of how things haven’t changed. i don’t mind launching pad, or writing pad because those are words from the dictionary not words made up by a marketing team and approved by a bunch of IT guys.
am i outraged at the name. no. i’m probably going to be ok when my hubby brings the thing into our home, but i suspect if there were indeed a few women in key positions at apple, iPad may have not made it through the final cut.
i could be wrong. i could indeed be a feminazi. but the reality is women still make up a tiny piece of the tech management pie, or any management pie for that matter.
and it would be great if more women were in positions of power.
alas, it’s not the case. maybe it’s because women are still oppressed, maybe it’s because we don’t really want it. who knows.
but we can’t deny there is a huge disparity, still, when it comes to women leaders.
that makes me sad, and i suppose that makes me a feminazi.
i do hate political correctness david just as much as you. i don’t care if companies call things pads, or condoms, or tampons. but, it seemed the name choice in this case pointed to what was a bigger problem.