Apple's “iMessage” is now a Registered Trademark
Apple's iMessage was first introduced by Scott Forstall at their World Wide Developer Conference in June 2011. Then in February 2012, Apple announced that iMessage was going to replace iChat in OS X Mountain Lion.
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple introduced iMessage in 2011 and had already begun building it into iChat on OS X. By February 2012, Apple had said Messages would replace iChat in OS X Mountain Lion, making the service—not the older desktop client—the cross-platform identity.
The registration formalizes that identity as Apple shifts its Mac messaging product under the iMessage name.
First-order effects
- Apple gains a registered brand asset for iMessage while OS X Mountain Lion transitions users away from iChat.
- The iMessage name becomes the common label for Apple’s phone and Mac messaging experience, rather than a feature associated only with the iPhone.
Second-order effects
- Apple’s Mac messaging transition concentrates product recognition around iMessage, reducing the relevance of the standalone iChat name for users and developers.
- Any messaging service using a confusingly similar name faces a clearer Apple claim to the iMessage brand as Apple expands the name across its software.
Third-order effects
- If Apple continues to pair service integration with trademark control, messaging becomes a more unified Apple product surface across devices rather than separate desktop and mobile applications.
The trend: Apple is consolidating formerly separate communications software into cross-device services with a single protected brand.