1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,440 There's no doubt that the familiar Bitten Apple image 2 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,800 has been an incredibly effective part of Apple's brand identity. 3 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:11,800 But why are they named Apple in the first place? And how about these other giants? 4 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:17,200 If you know anything about the history of Apple, you probably know that Steve Jobs was kind of a hippie. 5 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:21,440 And around the time of Apple's formation, he visited a commune in Oregon, 6 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:25,680 where they grew, you guessed it, apples and maybe some other stuff. 7 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:29,720 And it didn't hurt that Jobs was also on a fruitarian diet at the time. 8 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:33,240 The name Apple also sounded unintimidating and fun, 9 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:36,560 and Jobs liked it, since choosing a name that started with A 10 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:41,960 meant they'd appear near the front of the phone book. And remember, this is 1976 we're talking about. 11 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:46,800 The other big A tech company, Amazon, chose its name for similar reasons, 12 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:52,240 minus the fruit commune stuff. Jeff Bezos originally named his company Cadabra, 13 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:57,280 as in Abra Cadabra, the Pokemon. But after someone misheard it as Cadabra, 14 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:02,120 and a friend suggested his alternative idea of relentless sounded too sinister, 15 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:07,080 Bezos cracked open the dictionary and picked Amazon, because it would appear at the top of many lists 16 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:10,980 since it started with A. Bezos also liked the exotic sound of the name, 17 00:01:10,980 --> 00:01:16,640 as well as the fact the massive Amazon river could imply that he had the world's largest selection 18 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:19,720 of books. Okay. 19 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:23,480 Google also got its name as a way to suggest a large scale project. 20 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,500 The word Google had already existed, 21 00:01:26,500 --> 00:01:31,040 and means the number you get when you take a one and write 100 zeros behind it. 22 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:36,040 Larry Page and Sergey Brin liked the name since Google was originally only a search engine, 23 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:39,480 and they wanted their brand message to be that you could use Google to access 24 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,840 huge amounts of information. They just changed the spelling 25 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:45,840 to something they liked better. Speaking of liking something better, 26 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:51,040 Facebook got its start because Mark Zuckerberg was frustrated that the administration at Harvard, 27 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:55,880 where he was a student, didn't offer an online version of, well, a Facebook. 28 00:01:55,880 --> 00:02:01,120 Traditional Facebooks are just printed directories given out at colleges containing students photos 29 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:07,240 and a small amount of information to help everyone get to know each other. Facebook, the website, was originally a more detailed, 30 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:10,480 digitized version of a paper Facebook that Zuck built 31 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:14,800 because he didn't have any faith in the Harvard administration to do it themselves. 32 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:19,280 And if you've seen the movie, The Social Network, you might remember that it portrayed Napster founder, 33 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:24,760 Sean Parker, who later joined Zuck's team, as the person who convinced him to drop the 34 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:28,180 from thefacebook.com's original name. 35 00:02:28,180 --> 00:02:31,560 The story of Microsoft's name might not seem that interesting. 36 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:34,780 It's just derived from microcomputer and software. 37 00:02:34,780 --> 00:02:40,440 But did you know they actually wrote the operating system for the first successful home personal computer? 38 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:46,700 It was called the Altair 8800 and Microsoft OS for it called Altair basic 39 00:02:46,700 --> 00:02:51,820 was successful enough for the fledgling company to make a name for itself back in the late 1970s 40 00:02:51,820 --> 00:02:56,700 as a software developer for smaller systems. Larger mainframes and mini computers 41 00:02:56,700 --> 00:03:00,580 were more common at the time. But after Microsoft struck a deal with IBM 42 00:03:00,580 --> 00:03:06,060 to have their DOS operating system power the original IBM PC, the rest was history 43 00:03:06,060 --> 00:03:10,060 as they still led the way in microcomputer OSes thanks to Windows. 44 00:03:10,060 --> 00:03:14,180 But lest you think we're going to leave you with just the origin stories of the big five, 45 00:03:14,180 --> 00:03:20,740 we have a bonus for those of you that remember PC maker Gateway, which hit its zenith in 2001 46 00:03:20,740 --> 00:03:24,580 after shipping PCs in those familiar cow patterned boxes 47 00:03:24,580 --> 00:03:28,420 all over the US. But why did they use a cow theme in the first place? 48 00:03:28,420 --> 00:03:32,960 Well, Gateway was actually formed in a farmhouse in Sioux City, Iowa. 49 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:38,300 And the cow box wasn't just a reference to farm life in the Midwest, but also that the founder's family 50 00:03:38,300 --> 00:03:42,400 had been in the cattle trade for generations. And at a time when there were lots of low cost 51 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:47,700 PC manufacturers cranking out systems that suffered from quality and reliability issues, 52 00:03:47,700 --> 00:03:51,260 the homie farm motif made Gateway seem approachable 53 00:03:51,260 --> 00:03:55,500 and trustworthy, both essential bovine qualities. 54 00:03:55,500 --> 00:03:59,420 Hey, thanks for watching the video, guys. Like it if you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it. 55 00:03:59,420 --> 00:04:04,540 Check out our other videos, comment below with video suggestions, and don't forget to subscribe and follow. 56 00:04:04,540 --> 00:04:08,980 It's gonna change your life, okay? It's too easy steps.