I went along to the London launch of Acer's smartphone range yesterday. I think I may have been the only mobile journo there; everyone else was from the IT press.

I've never seen cynicism like it. Acer faced a barrage of negative questions, mostly directed at its choice of Windows OS and the company's apparently uninspiring product design.

The Taiwanese firm also had to bat off the inevitable and boring criticism that, basically, it's not Apple and it ought to be.

God, I'm sick of this. Yes, the iPhone is amazing (and I'm going to get one soon), but Apple is unique. Not everyone can be Apple.

And why would Acer want to copy Apple's strategy in mobile? It dwarfs Apple in the notebook market with its 'uninspiring' products. I'm sure similar success in smartphones with 'dull' Windows sliders would suit Acer just fine.

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The Acer smartphone range also got some stick for its boring names. Or, more accurately, numbers. Predictably, the phones have names like the unforgettable M100 and the very catchy DX900.

Again, the chorus was 'why don't you use a name like iPhone?'. Well, surely it's obvious. If you plan to launch around a dozen phones a year, how can you find memorable and suitable names every time? Names that work in every region?

You can't. This is why Nokia uses its wearisome but necessary numbering system (no fours though, not with those superstitious Chinese).

Actually, there really is some logic buried deep in the Nokia system, with the 5000 range denoting 'active' and the 6000 standing for 'classic business' and the 3000 'expression'. See, it's so obvious when it's explained properly.

Of course, making the audacious step towards a name rather than number can be the making or breaking of a device. Motorola did everything right with Razr - a cool name that complemented a cool device.

Taking the 'o' out made it look like an acronym too, which helped it work in most languages. But when Moto got carried away and began selling KRZRs and RIZRs, and the public responded with derision.

Derision is better than laughter though. History is littered with brand names that don't travel. When General Electric launched its GPT unit in France, it was pronounced ‘j’ai pété’ or ‘I've farted’.

Ford's Pinto never stood a chance in Brazil where pinto means small penis. Best of all, though, may be Coca-Cola, which was first read in China as ‘Kekoukela’, meaning ‘Bite the Wax Tadpole’.