Regardless of what you might think the "i" actually stands for, it's pretty obvious what the prefix signifies in Apple's product line: "i" = "consumer." First we got iMovie, a dead-simple but surprisingly powerful consumer-targeted video editing application. Next came iTunes, software that lets consumers "rip, mix, and burn" digital music to their hearts' content. Then there's iDVD-- it's only available on Apple's most expensive top-of-the-line professional Power Mac G4 for now, but it's still obviously meant for consumers-- filthy rich consumers, sure, but consumers nonetheless. (Otherwise there wouldn't be a separate $1000 DVD Studio Pro, would there?)

So just as the iMac and iBook are clearly targeted at "the rest of us," Apple's iApps are meant for consumers, too. But is it time to break with tradition? As faithful viewer Tony McDaid pointed out, Mac OS Rumors is discussing a new Apple iApp: iPhoto. Hey, why not? All of the other iApps deal with new digital media, so it's only natural that Apple should give its customers a simple yet powerful application that can import pictures directly from scanners and digital cameras, allow for simple image enhancement and fun special effects, and maybe even allow customers to order prints from right within the application itself. (Don't tell us you've already forgotten about Apple's recent investment in the Ofoto online photography service, hmmmm?) Heck, in the spirit of Apple's other "not invented here" iApps, why not just buy Kai's Photo Soap, slap on a less baffling interface, build in iDisk integration, and ship that?

But here's the thing: apparently iPhoto is not going to be a consumer application. Instead, iPhoto Studio is billed as "the perfect solution for the high volume requirements of professional photographers." Instead of letting you touch up your scanned snapshots of Junior's school play for your Christmas card newsletter (red-eye is so unattractive in an eight-year-old dressed as a large wedge of cheese), iPhoto Studio "lets you focus on the quality of your images by helping you manage your workflow for greater productivity and profitability. Explore end-to-end workflow solutions build around the latest professional digital cameras." Uh-oh, Toto... iDon't think we're in Kansas anymore.

So while Apple should be (and probably is) working on a photographic complement to iMovie/iTunes/iDVD, apparently iPhoto Studio isn't it. Oh, and for those of you who are more likely to lick six live rats than trust anything that Mac OS Rumors posts, we should probably mention that MOSR's source on this one is pretty darn impeccable: it's Apple's own web site. It seems that Apple's holding a free seminar on "Digital Workflow for Photographers" in one of its own seminar rooms in New York City this Friday. Are there any Big Apple shutterbugs out there who want to spend a few hours on Friday morning finding out just what this iPhoto Studio thing really is? If so, register now... and, barring any NDA you might have to sign, don't forget to fill us in on the dirt afterward.

Addendum: Scratch that. According to the Mac Show, iPhoto Studio is indeed a third party service, not an Apple product. Which, of course, makes us wonder what Apple will name its consumer image-editing application if/when it ever sees the light of day... we vote for "iPix."