Ask HN: What is the significance of ommitting “the” when referring to products?

3 points by david-cako ↗ HN
I notice Apple has a tendency to oddly exclude articles/determiners in phrases like "do not restart [your] Apple Watch", or "meet [the] iPhone", and to oddly include them in other cases -- "the biggest update for 'the Mac' yet".

This is something I've always found very interesting, as I imagine there has to be some practical explanation for it in terms of branding or image.

I can't imagine this has any relationship to trademark dilution, because these are very well recognized as Apple trademarks.

2 comments

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By omitting the article the noun will become a name, and by extension, a person. This will allow you to grow a more personal relationship with it.
Then why does a Windows machine say "Please do not shut me down?" as opposed to "Please do not shut your PC down?"