Apple has already changed their name twice. From Apple Computer Company to Apple Computer, Inc to Apple Inc.

The biggest part of their business has shifted from computers to phones but I doubt they expect the iPhone to be their biggest product in the future forever, so I don’t think they would pigeonhole themselves when their name and logo is so ubiquitous.

Research In Motion meant nothing for most people while the Blackberry brand was strong and instantly recognizable. 37Signals was also renamed after the much stronger brand of their core product. Apple and iPhone are both just as powerful.

Companies like Apple, Nike, Mercedes, Coca-Cola will never completely change the name (maybe some variations here and there, without touching the core name) simply because the brand is so recognizable. It would be throwing money and image down the drain and it would just cause confusion.

Mercedes is a brand actually owned by Daimler AG...Daimler being the dude who had a daughter called Mercedes...

In Germany both are known. Daimler the business, Mercedes the car...

Kinda Apple and iPhone...then Mac (aka Mercedes Benz Trucks?!)

Should have said BMW :). Then again Daimler is far less known across the world than Mercedes. My point was that when you have a strong brand you don't mess with it. You go from a weak brand to a strong one, not the other way around.

You can see that with Alphabet: most people associate the "moonshot" subsidiaries with Google.

I always got a kick out of RIM's career website URL. They had a .jobs domain on it.

We used to refer to them as "RIM jobs" at the University of Waterloo, where they had a significant presence given their next-door proximity to campus.

It wasn't long ago that they renamed from Apple Computer, Inc. to just Apple, Inc.

But did that have more to do with the Beatles agreeing to it rather than anything else? I was under the impression that Apple had wanted to make the switch much earlier.

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/06/business/06apple.html

Yes it was, it was 13 years ago.

The Apple brand is one of the strongest brands in the world. Blackberry was always a bigger brand than RIM itself. Doesn't make sense to ditch an abandon a big brand.

Another interesting case is when HP decided to spin off their PC business: they gave the HP brand to that new company.

Apple Computer already changed its name to Apple in 2007!

That’s different. When they started out the only thing coming to mind when someone said Apple was fruit. That changed, so they dropped the now redundant “computer”.

No. When Apple Computer first started, the Beatles "business" was called Apple Corp. This has resulted in several lawsuits between the Beatles and Apple.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer