Updated: Apple Drops The iPad mini Name Following USPTO Move

Note: See the update at the end. That was quick. Just hours after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused to hand over the “iPad mini” trademark to Apple, the company has announce new plans for their smaller tablet. Future iPad minis will now be called iNewtons, according to a press release. In explaining the move, Apple says:

The iconic Newton platform represented all that was great about Apple in the 1990s. As such, we can think of no better move than to name our next tablet the iNewton.

The Apple Newton, of course, was a line of personal digital assistants first introduced in 1993. The last version, released in 1998, was officially killed by Steve Jobs upon his return to Apple. In refusing Apple’s application for the “iPad mini” trademark, the USPTO said that the term “mini” was “merely descriptive.” The government also concluded that the Web page specimen submitted by Apple to demonstrate the use of the applied-for trademark was not valid. As noted by Patently Apple, “Apple commonly provides USPTO with their appropriate product website pages as a specimen. It’s never been refused until now.” Apple’s latest move won’t come without controversy. For one, the original Apple Newton wasn’t exactly a top seller, hence the reason that Jobs ended the project in the first place. For another, Apple no longer holds the “Newton” trademark, which they abandoned in February. Apple CEO Tim Cook, however, seems convinced that the rebranding will eventually be well-received by the public. Cook states:

Everyone is on board with this. Just to be sure, we’ve been in touch with former Apple CEO John Sculley about the move, and he thinks that it is genius.

The first iNewton is expected to arrive later this year and include a Retina display. See also: Apple Launches New 'Why You'll Love An iPad' Promotional Webpage, and Retina iPad mini Could Arrive In Second Half Of 2013, Says Analyst. Updated: April Fools!

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