Okay, What's iGuide -- New iPhone/iSlate Tablet Service or Just More iNoise?

By Rene Ritchie
last updated

iSlate seems solid but might not (or never) be used, while apple.com/ichatmobile was a bust, so where does iGuide fit in? Says MacRumors:

iGuide Media, LLC. is another Delaware-based company whose sole purpose appears to be to obtain a trademark on behalf of Apple, Inc. In this case they have a single trademark application for the term "iGuide" that is currently pending. The application was first filed in December 2007. Again, we found Apple's Senior Trademark Specialist Regina Porter's signatures on the trademark documents linking iGuide Media, LLC to Apple, Inc. Meanwhile, the lawyer handling the paperwork for the iGuide trademark is the same lawyer who filed for the iPhone trademark under Ocean Telecom Services, also on behalf of Apple. Like iSlate, it seems clear that Apple created iGuide Media, LLC to obtain the iGuide trademark.

TechCrunch has also done another post-post dig but didn't find any smoking apples.

Still, TiPb agrees iGuide sounds far more like a service than a product, and not even a very cool sounding one at that. Any ideas?

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

15 Comments
  • Mapping system that guides nicely to POIs replacing Google Maps et al.
  • Maybe they're finally changing iTunes' name. It's hasn't been all about "tunes" for quite awhile. It's a growing store with different media that will most likely be including print media soon. A "guide" or "catalog" would be needed to find what one's looking for. Since the name iMedia is already taken, maybe iGuide works? It would certainly explain why there doesn't seem to be anything out there to associate it with.
    I don't know.
  • I think Tom is onto something. Although "guide" provides more connotations than just mapping, possibly a turn by turn navigation app built in, in the same vein as Google's turn by turn on the Droid.
  • Yea it sounds like it. @ Fastlane don't come up with stupid ideas just to be able to post here. Y the hell they will change name of iTunes?
  • I'm with Tom - Ben already said it, but I think the guess of replacing Google Maps - with iGuide turn by turn navigation, mapping, POI... sounds pretty dang good!
  • @BBYM Don't be a jerk when others have legitimate ideas. Nobody outside of apple has any clue what iGuide might be and you have no right to badmouth others guesses.
  • Could it possibly be the iTunes TV/Movie subscription service. The iGuide name possibly playing off of the TV Guide name. Just a guess.
    The Mapping application is a strong possibility also.
  • It's an app for navigating rivers and deep forest paths. It will replace all river guides and shirpas.
  • Perhaps iGuide could be an updated version of Apple's assisted GPS and may reflect a spin on Google maps.
  • @Jay:
    That's sort of what I was getting at, too.
    Selling movies, TV show, Books, and Apps in a store still having "tunes" in the name seems outdated and disordery. Not only that, but the iPhone has separate App Store and iTunes apps, while the desktop iTunes contains the App Store within it.
    For those of us who have been around awhile, we're used to this and it's not a problem. But I can see newcomers being confused by a music store being a place to buy magazines, apps, and books, while a tablet and phone have separate stores with different names.
    Even if "iGuide" is going to be used for navigation, as Tom suggests... there still needs to be some reconfiguring and renaming of the way Apple organizes and distributes media. It's starting to get a bit messy and non Apple-like.
  • this is Apple. There's a TON of noise around a product that will exist at an unknown time (the iphone rumors started 5 years before release) and then there will be a TON of noise about how it's not good enough, is a failure, needs X to succeed... right before they sell out the first day
  • Apple is just going to be selling a high priced iPhone ascesory end of story.
  • Apple has been rumored to get into the TV market in a big way as of more recently. I'm not talking about "Apple TV". How about Apple actually makes a TV? The TV is basically a modified iMac. iGuide could be the UI for such a product. Apple's TV (not Apple TV) is more than just a TV in that it is basically an ever connected Internet box, media player, etc. It has been rumored (or maybe confirmed?) that apple already has Disney (ABC, ESPN, etc) and CBS signed up for a series by subscription type deal.
    Apple is the leader and pioneer of the combined monitor/CPU product with the iMac (and even before the iMac), why not combine monitor, CPU, and TV? Seems like a logical step into the living room.
  • Hi,
    I'm the owner of www.iguide.travel, which is currently the top "iGuide" in the world. iGuide is an interactive travel guide, and we're currently #1 in Google for the word iGuide, and get about 300,000 users a month.
    What's my opinion on the name? It's not bad, though not great. I would of course love if Apple also used the name (my name!!) to help support my brand.
    As to iguide.com, I tried to purchase the domain in January, but BuyDomains had asked for USD $250,000. It turns out iguide.com was actually sold for $100,000 this summer, to who knows who? And no, I could not afford that at that time either.
    Anyhow, check out www.iguide.travel, its the real iGuide, and developed 100% on a MacBook.
    Alex / iGuide
  • Looks like wwww.iguide.com is active as a video streaming site. They are olny using the domain as a redirect?
    Is this apple?