Maybe I’m just overly geeky, but I cringe every time I hear people refer to the next iPhone as the iPhone 5. It won’t be…it will be the iPhone 6.

I know, I know. You’re sitting back and saying “no way. It has a 4 in it; the next one will be 5!”

But it’s not the 4 in the name we should be looking at. The iPhone 4 (sans ‘S’) also had a 4 in it.

I believe Apple is loosely naming iPhones based on their release cycle.

I want to take you through a history of iPhones which will in turn, show you why I believe the next iPhone will be #6. Please follow along.

In 2007 - Apple released the iPhone. This had no number or designation - just iPhone. Factually, this was the first iPhone - so iPhone 1.

2008 - Apple releases the iPhone 3G. This is where I think the confusion begins. The 3 in 3G isn’t referring to an order - but just the phone’s cellular data speed. This is the second iPhone - so iPhone 2.

2009 - the iPhone 3GS is released. Like the 3G above, the 3 refers to the cellular data speed. But it coincidentally is also the third iPhone released. This is iPhone 3.

2010 - A completely new design is unveiled (a little early by Gizmodo) but alas, the late Steve Jobs took the stage and announced the iPhone 4. This. This is the first time that Apple has used the ordered number in which the iPhone has been released in its name. Oddly, a lot of people took to calling this one the iPhone 4G when it never had anything to do with 4G speeds.

2011 - Now, think back and remember to when the rumor mill was hot with speculation as to what Apple would release in the iPhone this past fall. Many sites were calling it the iPhone 5 already. Why did they do that? Ah yes - because it was the fifth iPhone in this iteration of iPhone releases. But it had a different name - the iPhone 4S. This IS the iPhone 5 - just with a different name.

I think folks are still looking at the 4 in 4S and focusing on that. The 4 in 4S is actually saying - hey, I’m still an iPhone 4 but ‘S’ denotes that it’s faster. WAIT. I just said the iPhone 4S is still an iPhone 4….so the next one must be a 5! Ok - but then following that logic, the 3G and 3GS are the same, so they should both be iPhone 2. But then where did the iPhone 3 go? Did Apple just skip it and go straight to iPhone 4? That doesn’t make sense.

So folks - there you have it. Hopefully, it makes some sort of sense. Another way to look at it is that Apple has released a new iPhone every year since its release in 2007. It’s the 5th year a new iPhone has been released - and we got the 4S. In 2012, the 6th iteration will most likely be released and it will be the iPhone 6 (unless they take on some who new way of naming them).

So this isn’t something that made me laugh - it let me down. I don’t want to name name’s or anything here - so it’ll be very ambiguous.

Recently, I went shopping with Cathy and she had some trouble picking out an item (Y). As always, I rely on Twitter to help me out with decisions. It’s real, honest, timely unfiltered feedback. I’ve heard people say Twitter is their Google. I’m one of those people.

So I did it. Took a photo of a couple items and let the Twitterverse decide. My followers were incredible. They offered me their honest input pretty quickly and although the choice was made while waiting for responses (literally within 5 minutes), it helped reaffirm that the right choice was made.

When I asked everyone though, I singled out one person for their opinion because I thought they could offer a unique perspective - person X works in the Digital Media area of the company who makes Y. Now - I don’t know if I’m asking for too much here. I don’t want to razz this person either - but I have a beef with this for a couple reasons.

I’ve been following X for a while now and one of the early things I remember them tweeting to their followers was to engage and be personable with them in regards to sending DM’s (direct messages on Twitter). They didn’t like it when people sent auto-DM’s. I decided to reply with “Here’s a real DM. Thought I’d break the cycle of auto-dm’s for ya! Love reading your blog and tweets! Cheers!”. I thought it’d be a nice ice-breaker. I didn’t get a response back - which is ok - I wasn’t asking for one but whatever.

Fast forward to yesterday. I sent out a tweet asking for help. Got no response from X - nor have I received anything since then - nor do I believe that I will end up getting one. I’m trying to get to a point on Social Media branding and the individuals who participate in this.

X is in the digital media field for this brand and an avid social networker; I would assume that if someone mentions your brand and specifically is directing a message to you, the thing you should do is respond. Surely, you’re following your brand on Twitter and must be in the loop on when you’re mentioned - but if not, someone else on your team must, right?  Right??

It’s after the fact now and Cathy & I have since made a decision but a “congrats on the purchase” or “hope she likes the Y” would be nice, no? I know it’s close to impossible to respond to everything - I get it - especially if you’re a large company, but that little piece of acknowledgement would have gone a LONG way.