HTC Magic branded MyTouch 3G

Well, it appears we finally have an official name for the HTC Magic, or as many people called it, the G2. According to a leaked inventory shot by TmoNews, three devices labeled “HTC T-Mobile MyTouch 3G” have appeared, each with a different color (black, white and merlot). While this could still possibly turn out to be false, but it is severely substantiated by the fact that T-Mobile took a suvery for names for the Magic last month and this was one of the listed options. So while it is unofficial currently, I’m confident that this will be the name in the end.

Personally, I and apparently many others feel the same way: this is a terrible name, it just sounds childish, which I doubt the company is trying to convey. In general, I’m beginning to find naming conventions in the personal electronics industry to be increasingly convoluted. Although, I can not fault T-Mobile for re-branding the phone, since the G2, ahem, MyTouch 3G really isn’t a replacements for the G1.

The question then becomes, will there be an actual branded G2? Probably not, but according to a leaked roadmap image  (from TmoToday) there will be a G1 version 2 dubbed Bigfoot, which from the image looks something like a oval iPhone with full QWERTY slideout keyboard. Also listed on the roadmap is the Samsung Houdini, whose thumbnail image doesn’t exactly match the previous Samsung device, is this just an old image or a different device entirely?

In retrospect, it was a bit foolish to believe that a phone would come out with the G2 moniker, such a name would not make it through the marketing department since all the new phones are labeled with some variation of 3G, not to mention a large segment of the population believing a simple number on the box intrinsically makes a product better. The big example being the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360, people would be less likely to buy an Xbox 2 with a Playstation 3 sitting next to it according to research. They could call the phone the G3, but that would likely confuse some people due to the lack of a G2 device… Anyways, I hope you see my point about naming conventions.