Brandnames come and go... if Steve decided to drop the "i," would anyone really give a poop a year from now?
In comparison, it is still far more absurd for Apple to ditch the "PowerBook" moniker. Talk about a brand that is synonymous with it's company. The Powerbook preceded Apple's introduction of the PowerPC by three years and remained in lineup for the twelve years thereafter. The roar that resulted from the MacBook name change has already died to whisper, and that was only five months ago.
If anyone has not caught on by now, Apple does what it wants, and (shock!) does not care what any of us think. Apple has always marched to their own beat, regardless to the song everyone else is singing.
But since we all like to hash amongst ourselves, I personally think dropping the "i" would make perfect sense, given the questionable road Steve has taken in renaming the company's product line. It would make for good feng shui in a consumer marketing sense.
You want a laptop? Simple - MacBook or MacBook Pro.
A desktop you say? Easy - Mac Mini, Mac, or Mac Pro.
Heck then we might even get an ultralight MacBook Mini to even everything out. And since I've now wandered into speculative la-la land...
I would gladly pony up the cash for a small screen Mac, with maybe a 10-12" screen, a sort of freakish offspring of the original Mac and an iPod, all on a nifty nifty little pedestal... now that would be sweet...
How long before Apple drops the iMac?