All day yesterday I was thinking about the shape of the iPhone app icon.
According to Wikipedia the Squircle is a thing ...
A squircle is a mathematical shape with properties between those of a square and those of a circle. It is a special case of superellipse. The word "squircle" is a portmanteau of the words "square" and "circle".
Who doesn't love a good portmanteau?
Also cited in the Wikipedia entry is that Nokia is often associated with the shape, having used it as a touchpad for buttons for years. As a former Nokian (both employee and loyal user) I can't make an association between the two.
All I know is this past weekend my five year old yelled from the backseat of the car, "Dad! You should download that guitar app for your phone." He was looking at a billboard for the Garage Band app. No words. No context (not placed on the deck of an iPhone). Just the squircle.
That's all. Nothing insightful. Just found it interesting that a pretty common shape - one that another handset manufacturer apparently had some equity with - is so widely associated with Apple. And that it has such a goofy name.