Branding “App”: Why Zune Should Just Let Apple Have It

There’s been a lot of talk about branded apps recently, but what about the branding of the word ‘app’?

App is a strong and powerful term. A noun of action from the Latin ‘applicare,’ it connotes getting stuff done, as in, applying something or oneself. Now it is synonymous with those little downloadable widgets on an iPhone.

It almost feels like Steve Jobs invented the term: Apple has the “App Store,” the catch-phrase “There’s an app for that” — heck, it’s even part of their name. But the Engadget report that Microsoft’s Zune HD will be using the word “Apps” in their “marketplace” raises the question: Can they do that?

Well, yes, of course they can. The word “application” has been around — in a compute sense. The definition, according to Wikipedia:

In computer science, an application is a computer program designed to help people perform a certain type of work. An application thus differs from an operating system (which runs a computer), a utility (which performs maintenance or general-purpose chores), and a programming language (with which computer programs are created). Depending on the work for which it was designed, an application can manipulate text, numbers, graphics, or a combination of these elements.

According to Etymonline, the shorthand term ‘app’ was “attested” in 1992.  (I’m sure there’s a William Safire out there who can tell us the full etymology. Consider this an invitation; comments are open below.) Indeed, the word is securely in the public domain. There are Facebook Apps, Google Apps, Twitter Apps…  Following the popularity of Apple’s App Store, Palm announced the App Catalog, and RIM launched its application store BlackBerry App World.

Still, I can’t help but think this is all great branding for Apple. Every time I hear the word “app,” my brain auto-completes the “le.” So the news that Zune was using the word—prominently on the interface of their new Zune HD—gave me pause. For a company that has been trying... and trying... to position itself as the anti-Apple, it seemed like a disconnect. If Zune does indeed start an application platform, as has been speculated, I’d be curious to see what they choose to call it— if they brand it at all. By way of example, you’ll notice that Android steers away from the word in their marketing copy (it’s the “Marketplace”), as does Nokia’s Ovi, which refers predominantly to “services.”

What do you think? Is the word “app” so fully appropriated by Apple that it has become a branded term? Frankly, I am sick to death of hearing about “apps” (of course this could have to do with the fact that I work in one of the most tech and media saturated cities—at a mobile agency…). But I would love to see Zune come up with something fresh and new that they can really own. What’s after the app? Or what’s the Apple alternative? Tell me, Bill Gates! Perhaps you are too busy saving the reputation of “PC.” Or “Zune,” for that matter.