iPhone now available: it’s just not from Apple
Steve Safran December 19th, 2006
All that speculation over an Apple iPhone has run into one huge problem: the new Linksys iPhone. Linksys has beaten Apple to the i-punch with its new WiFi/Skype-enabled phone. Cisco (which owns Linksys) says it has owned the iPhone trademark since 2000. An Apple miscue? A Linksys attempt at capitalizing on someone else’s brand? Says a marketing prof from the University of Toronto: “It looks as if they’re basically trying to sew a little bit of confusion and defend their own franchise… In hindsight, not locking in the trademark on iPhone seems like quite the misstep on Apple’s part.”
2 Comments Add your own
1. Gary | December 19th, 2006 at 11:34 am
Why would Apple want to use the name iPhone? It actually doesn’t go with their typical naming style. And it doesn’t really describe the product well. After all, if there is a new Apple device, I doubt they’ll want to use a limiting word like ‘phone’ which ignores the media aspect. More likely they’d come up with a more abstract term along the lines of ‘pod’. Where Apple messed up was with iTunes. Doesn’t quite fit anymore, does it?
2. Dan | December 19th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
Apple has never said they were making a phone.
Apple has never said, if they did make one,
it would be called iPhone.
All the info about what Apple “may” be making
is about a cell phone, not a Skype phone.
Geez, you guys just post anything I guess.
This is all just a lot of speculation in the press.
Not that most Mac users wouldn’t welcome a great
cell phone. Having a professor of marketing say
Apple mis-stepped is hilarious.
Dan
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