Name change: This is what tech companies were called before their success

There are many reasons for renaming a company, product or service – but often there is also a certain risk behind it. We have selected a number of successful name changes from the tech world for you and show you what they were called “before they were cool”.

A new name can mean a lot in the tech world. Often a new company or product name is also a change for the path taken. The name of a company, service or program can change for various reasons.

In some cases, young companies are forced to look for a new name because another company with a similar name already exists on the international market. Sometimes the first name was just a crazy idea. When companies merge, there is often an adaptation or a completely new name. And every now and then a name change only comes after many years, because the focus of the company has changed and the old name no longer fits the new direction.

In 1996, Page and Brin developed a search engine that sorts results not according to the frequency of a word but according to a PageRank. Backlinks were particularly important here (German back references). They jokingly named the website “BackRub” (back massage). In 1998 they named the project in “Google” um, a modification of the number Googol, which stands for a 1 with 100 zeros (ten sex decillions).

“AuctionWeb” was a small part of Pierre Omidyar’s website in 1995. In addition to the online auction platform, there was information on the Ebola virus and more on “ebay.com”. However, the media simply called the auction part “EBay”so that Omidyar dropped the name AuctionWeb in 1997 and turned eBay into an online auction platform.

“Burbn” was supposed to be a rating service and check-in app for hotels and other travel destinations. Since the app didn’t differ that much from the competition, the developers, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, decided to concentrate completely on the photo sharing function and named the app in “Instagram” around.

The popular browser “Firefox” had to change his name twice. With the original name “Phoenix” if the BIOS manufacturer “Phoenix Technologies” did not agree, the browser was then in “Firebird” renamed, which in turn did not please the open source database of the same name.

1911 merged under the name “Computing Tabulating Recording Company” three US companies dealing with punch cards, scales and clocks. After the company put its focus on the production of machines for other companies, it renamed itself in 1924 to “International Business Machines Corporation” or for short “IBM” around.

The palm service “Confinity” for payment methods and cryptography as well as the internet financial service provider founded by Elon Musk “X.com” started at the end of 1999. A little later, in the new millennium, the two services then merged to become Payfriend: “PayPal”.

After a corporate cooperation, Euronics Deutschland eG decided to use the “Red Zac”Branches 2006 in “Euronics” to rename. The dog’s head called “Red Zac” remained the mascot for a few years after the name was changed. Austrian readers should now be confused, because there is still “Red Zac” to this day.

The trading company “Picture + sound” was founded in Hanover in 1962. In 1967 they merged with several European purchasing associations and formed the “Euroexpert Group”. Nowadays the “Expert” consumer electronics stores are known almost all over Europe.

2013 wasn’t the best year for “Research in Motion”. So that everyone knows what the company actually stands for, the name of the company’s most famous product has been changed without further ado: “Blackberry”.

 

Jerry Yang and David Filo tinkered with their website in early 1994 “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web” a hierarchically organized directory of other websites. Just three months later, they named the project in the far simpler name “Yahoo!” around.

August Horch parted ways with his former company after disputes with the CFO “Horch AG”, but at the same time he had lost the right to use his last name again for a similar company. His solution? To listen to (hear) the name and translate it into Latin: “Audi”.

The two British companies “Standard” and “Swallow” joined forces to form the automobile manufacturer “SS”. After the Second World War, however, the abbreviation suggested a different association. So the penultimate model, the “SS jaguar 3½ liter “, simply the wildcat name and named his company after that.

“Quantum Computer Services” developed online services for various platforms. Along with Apple Quantum was on duty AppleLink developed. After the two companies went their separate ways, Qunatum called the service in “Amercia Online” um, and shortly afterwards also his own company: “AOL”.

Before they became one of Sony’s most important development studios with “Crash Bandicoot”, “Jak and Daxter”, “Uncharted” and “The Last of Us” “Naughty Dog” still “JAM Software”.

After leaving Apple, Trip Hawkins founded the software company in April 1982 “Amazin ‘Software”. Many employees were not convinced by the name. Hawkins wanted to bring the art aspect of games to the fore. After brainstorming the entire company, the company was renamed in October 1982 “Electronic Arts” (EA) around.

“Acer Peripherals” was founded in 1984 as a subsidiary of Acer. To ensure independence and the company motto “B.ringing Enjoyment and Quality to Life ” (Eng. bring joy and quality into life) to underline, they called themselves in “BenQ” around.

“Acer” was only called “Acer” 3 years after the subsidiary was founded. “Acer” has been under the name since it was founded in 1976 until the name was changed in 1987 “Multitech” known.

The enterprise “Ideal Radio” headphones of particularly high quality marked with a blue dot. After this became known, customers asked for “Blaupunkt” headphones. The company reacted cleverly, called itself in “Blaupunkt” and use the blue dot as a logo. As a result, all of their devices had the coveted “test mark”.

The company known as “Tokyo communications company” looked for a simpler name before marketing it internationally. The Latin word for sound was combined, Sonus, with the English word for happy / cheerful, Sunny. The result is: “Sony”.

With the “XBMC” (Xbox M.edia C.enter), Microsoft’s first console could be turned into a real media center. The console is now out of date and XBMC has been around for a long time for all imaginable operating systems. So after 10 years of development, with version 14.0 of “XBMC”, they called themselves in “Kodi” around.

“Amazon “ was called Amazon from the start. However, Jeff Bezos, the founder of the giant online company, wanted to before that “Relentless” (Eng. relentless) call. Even if other companies are now using the name, the URL “relentless.com” still leads to Amazon’s US site to this day.