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These big companies really need to get naming input from someone other than marketing teams It's not the marketing teams to blame. Marketing teams name things

These big companies really need to get naming input from someone other than marketing teams It's not the marketing teams to blame. Marketing teams name things iPod, or MacBook, or PlayDate. I don't know who names things at Intel, or Nvidia, or Sony, but it's not the marketing team. At least not a good one.

rjmunro 4y ago
Marketing teams name things 360, One, One S, One X, Series S and Series X. I think that's the right order, I'm not sure.
- TillE 4y ago
  When the Xbox One was announced, people complained that it was confusing, but really it had been long enough since the original Xbox that the name was just silly, not confusing. The One/Series S/X crap is genuinely baffling, totally incomprehensible unless you've really been keeping up with every Xbox release. You can go on Wikipedia and figure it out in a few minutes, but...you should not have to do that.
  - monkpit 4y ago
    Don’t forget the OG offender in this category, the PSOne / PSX
    - kmeisthax 4y ago
      In Sony's defense, everything else with the PlayStation was actually pretty straightforward. PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, and PS5. "PSOne" was a weird way to brand a slim console, but it's still obvious that it's a PS1. And while Sony did originally use PSX to refer to the PS1, that was an internal codename, i.e. "different from the Nintendo PlayStation[0]". The gaming press ran with it because people in that era insisted on awkward three-letter acronyms for all games consoles. Reusing it for a weird PS2 DVR combo unit is still way better than Microsoft launching two different consoles with the same name. [0] The cancelled SNES variant with the also-cancelled Super CD add-on built-in, both built by Sony.
- Dylan16807 4y ago
  The order is 360, One, Series. The letter is just tier. It's remarkable how thoroughly they managed to outdo the confusing nature of "One". Who would look at "Xbox Series" and think that's the name of a specific generation? It's an artistic masterpiece.
ShakataGaNai 4y ago
Clearly some departments of Sony have engineers naming things. No marketing team would put out a product names the "Sony WH-1000XM4" not to be confused with the "Sony WF-1000XM4". Overall Nvidia generally has a very good naming system. They are easy to understand if you look at them for more than a minute. Nvidia is 4090? 40 = Generation. 90 = Model. Higher model # is better. They've stuck with the general concept for the better part of 20 years. Intel's naming is decent. Their cutsey names like Sandy Bridge, meh. No one can never remember those. But the Core numbering system is solid. i3 is lowest. i9 is highest. The processor numbers after that can be a little hard and do require a bit of a decorder matrix to understand. But as long as it's a system, with rules, that they follow, and can be explained fairly easily - I'm ok with it. Heck they have a page that gives you the magic decoder ring: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/processor-numbers.html https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/processor...
- izacus 4y ago
  I'll be honestly concerned for Sony if they stop naming their products from random bash line noise. It's now as much part of their brand as all other things are.
- mey 4y ago
  Except Nvidia uses the same branding for it's mobile and desktop chips, and in the past have rebadged different architectures under multiple gen numbers. (GT 510/520/605/610/710 all the GF119 chip) It's all pretty bad.
- arprocter 4y ago
  Acer's monitor naming looks like a cat walked on someone's keyboard - KVbmiipruzx
  - muro 4y ago
    The best named monitor recently is probably the Waysus 22.
  - userbinator 4y ago
dingaling 4y ago
What is an iPod without context? Some sort of protective case with an RFID tag maybe? PlayDate - is that a video conferencing product? These are not good product names
- ShakataGaNai 4y ago
  Context is required for basically all product names, unless they've managed to make themselves generic. Ex https://www.businessinsider.com/google-taser-xerox-brand-names-generic-words-2018-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/google-taser-xerox-brand-nam... . Even then, if they are "generic" they still often require context of a specific country or language. If I ask you about a Mustang, what do you think about first? Are you into cars and it's a Ford Mustang? Are you into Horses? Are you into Planes? Or maybe you're into ships? Heck, there is an entire list of options: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustang_(disambiguation) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustang_(disambiguation) A good name is memorable, not necessarily descriptive. Most product and company names today are made up anyways. Or they are named after something else in a completely arbitrary fashion. The problem comes when a company establishes a name for one thing, then uses it for another. The iPhone is a good name in concept. Pro/Max/Ultra/Mini not withstanding. But what if tomorrow Apple said there was an iPhone Super Ultra Max that was 10" and couldn't make calls. People would argue that was an iPad and that this new Super Ultra Max was a stupid name.
bee_rider 4y ago
It is weird because Nvidia clearly has an instinct to give their cards car names (with the GTX, GT, RTX, etc etc stuff). They should just get rid of the numbers for the most part. 4090 -> 2022 Nvidia Optium 4080 -> 2022 Nvidia Melium 4070 -> 2022 Nvidia Bonum 4060 -> 2022 Nvidia Benem (I barand-name-ified the latin words for best/better/good/okay).
- mosen 4y ago
  Without the numbers, you have no idea which one’s better at a glance (which is why they’re retracting the “other” 4080). And “Bonum”… are you sure?
  - bee_rider 4y ago
    The problem with the numbers is that we expect them to have some meaning. There's no inherent ordering between maxima/altima/sentra but if you are shopping for Nissan cars you figure it out. If you are spending a couple thousand dollars on something you shouldn't pick at a glance, you should look at the specs. Bonum -- apparently that's the latin word for good? I dunno I just dropped words into google translate and then hacked off letters at random to fit the pattern. I'm sure they can come up with better fake words.

rjmunro 4y ago

Marketing teams name things 360, One, One S, One X, Series S and Series X. I think that's the right order, I'm not sure.

TillE 4y ago
When the Xbox One was announced, people complained that it was confusing, but really it had been long enough since the original Xbox that the name was just silly, not confusing. The One/Series S/X crap is genuinely baffling, totally incomprehensible unless you've really been keeping up with every Xbox release. You can go on Wikipedia and figure it out in a few minutes, but...you should not have to do that.
- monkpit 4y ago
  Don’t forget the OG offender in this category, the PSOne / PSX
  - kmeisthax 4y ago
    In Sony's defense, everything else with the PlayStation was actually pretty straightforward. PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, and PS5. "PSOne" was a weird way to brand a slim console, but it's still obvious that it's a PS1. And while Sony did originally use PSX to refer to the PS1, that was an internal codename, i.e. "different from the Nintendo PlayStation[0]". The gaming press ran with it because people in that era insisted on awkward three-letter acronyms for all games consoles. Reusing it for a weird PS2 DVR combo unit is still way better than Microsoft launching two different consoles with the same name. [0] The cancelled SNES variant with the also-cancelled Super CD add-on built-in, both built by Sony.
Dylan16807 4y ago
The order is 360, One, Series. The letter is just tier. It's remarkable how thoroughly they managed to outdo the confusing nature of "One". Who would look at "Xbox Series" and think that's the name of a specific generation? It's an artistic masterpiece.

ShakataGaNai 4y ago

Clearly some departments of Sony have engineers naming things. No marketing team would put out a product names the "Sony WH-1000XM4" not to be confused with the "Sony WF-1000XM4". Overall Nvidia generally has a very good naming system. They are easy to understand if you look at them for more than a minute. Nvidia is 4090? 40 = Generation. 90 = Model. Higher model # is better. They've stuck with the general concept for the better part of 20 years. Intel's naming is decent. Their cutsey names like Sandy Bridge, meh. No one can never remember those. But the Core numbering system is solid. i3 is lowest. i9 is highest. The processor numbers after that can be a little hard and do require a bit of a decorder matrix to understand. But as long as it's a system, with rules, that they follow, and can be explained fairly easily - I'm ok with it. Heck they have a page that gives you the magic decoder ring: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/processor-numbers.html https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/processor...

izacus 4y ago
I'll be honestly concerned for Sony if they stop naming their products from random bash line noise. It's now as much part of their brand as all other things are.
mey 4y ago
Except Nvidia uses the same branding for it's mobile and desktop chips, and in the past have rebadged different architectures under multiple gen numbers. (GT 510/520/605/610/710 all the GF119 chip) It's all pretty bad.
arprocter 4y ago
Acer's monitor naming looks like a cat walked on someone's keyboard - KVbmiipruzx
- muro 4y ago
  The best named monitor recently is probably the Waysus 22.
- userbinator 4y ago

dingaling 4y ago

What is an iPod without context? Some sort of protective case with an RFID tag maybe? PlayDate - is that a video conferencing product? These are not good product names

ShakataGaNai 4y ago
Context is required for basically all product names, unless they've managed to make themselves generic. Ex https://www.businessinsider.com/google-taser-xerox-brand-names-generic-words-2018-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/google-taser-xerox-brand-nam... . Even then, if they are "generic" they still often require context of a specific country or language. If I ask you about a Mustang, what do you think about first? Are you into cars and it's a Ford Mustang? Are you into Horses? Are you into Planes? Or maybe you're into ships? Heck, there is an entire list of options: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustang_(disambiguation) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustang_(disambiguation) A good name is memorable, not necessarily descriptive. Most product and company names today are made up anyways. Or they are named after something else in a completely arbitrary fashion. The problem comes when a company establishes a name for one thing, then uses it for another. The iPhone is a good name in concept. Pro/Max/Ultra/Mini not withstanding. But what if tomorrow Apple said there was an iPhone Super Ultra Max that was 10" and couldn't make calls. People would argue that was an iPad and that this new Super Ultra Max was a stupid name.

bee_rider 4y ago

It is weird because Nvidia clearly has an instinct to give their cards car names (with the GTX, GT, RTX, etc etc stuff). They should just get rid of the numbers for the most part. 4090 -> 2022 Nvidia Optium 4080 -> 2022 Nvidia Melium 4070 -> 2022 Nvidia Bonum 4060 -> 2022 Nvidia Benem (I barand-name-ified the latin words for best/better/good/okay).

mosen 4y ago
Without the numbers, you have no idea which one’s better at a glance (which is why they’re retracting the “other” 4080). And “Bonum”… are you sure?
- bee_rider 4y ago
  The problem with the numbers is that we expect them to have some meaning. There's no inherent ordering between maxima/altima/sentra but if you are shopping for Nissan cars you figure it out. If you are spending a couple thousand dollars on something you shouldn't pick at a glance, you should look at the specs. Bonum -- apparently that's the latin word for good? I dunno I just dropped words into google translate and then hacked off letters at random to fit the pattern. I'm sure they can come up with better fake words.