Intel bids adieu to McAfee Brand, renames it “Intel Security”

The iconic McAfee brand is consigned to history. Intel has decided to do away with the McAfee brand name. A CNET report states that, "The software will remain unchanged except for changing the name from McAfee Security to Intel Security. The iconic red McAfee shield will remain, for now, and some components of the mobile versions of the software now will be free to use on iOS and Android devices. The rebranding is expected to take up to a year to complete."

Intel disclosed about the name change in the ongoing CES 2014 tech show in which Intel Chief Executive Brian Krzanich announced the company's decision to phase out the McAfee name.
This move by Intel comes at a time when the overall IT security market is becoming extremely competitive and Intel's ambition to create its own security brand identity minus the McAfee brand. Moreover, since 2012, the original founder of the company John McAfee has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. He was living in the remote Central American island of Belize till 2012, where he was named a ‘murder suspect'. The Belizean police have alleged that John McAfee killed his Belizean neighbor Gregory Faull. Post that McAfee was on the run for while and in late 2012 he escaped to the US in a dramatic fashion and has been living in Florida since then. However McAfee insists that he did not kill his neighbor, but was framed by the Belizean Government to extort money. Also read Did John McAfee (founder McAfee) kill Gregory Faull?

Over the last few months McAfee has criticized Intel's handling of its security portfolio and said the current versions of the software degrades computing performance. McAfee also made a video sometime back mocking Intel's handling of its security suite. Intel has rubbished McAfee's claims.
According to a Reuters report when John McAfee was asked on how he felt about the name change, he told, ""I am who I am. I'm sorry I live on the edge and enjoy life and don't care what people think of me,". "I'm sorry that the software has my name."

This answer might surprise many, but for those privy to John McAfee's eccentricities, this perfectly fits the bill, as he is not associated with the company he founded 25 years back. McAfee and controversy go hand in hand, for instance, post the NSA snooping fallout, reports suggest that McAfee is creating technology named D-Central - an anti snooping tech that will make difficult for Governments to do Internet surveillance.

A bit of history now..

McAfee Associates founded by John McAfee in 1987 went on to become the world's largest anti-virus company in two decades of its existence. But JohnMcAfee sold his company in the late 1990s, and made a huge fortune of $ 100 million but lost most of it in the financial crisis of 2007, and reports say that he sold of all of his prime assets in the United States and moved to the exotic island of Belize in Central America by 2008. Belize is bordered to the north by Mexico, south and west by Guatemala, and to the east by the Caribbean Sea. It may be recalled, Intel acquired McAfee in 2010 for a whopping $ 7.6 bn.

Where does it go from here...

First off, any branding change will have its transition phase. A name such as McAfee, that's part and parcel of the PC era is too well entrenched in the minds of people and switching to a new name is indeed a gamble of sorts. Given that Intel need to do focused campaigns to connect the new name ‘Intel Security'. While the real reason for the brand change is not yet clear, but Intel clearly does not want to be associated with John McAfee's eccentricities and the kind of negative publicity he was doing.

Will this brand change augur well for Intel or is it killing an iconic McAfee brand for personal reasons?

Let's hear your thoughts!