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Breaking News: Apple and Cisco have reached an agreement over the copyright on the iPhone name Apple wants to use for its new cell phone and mobile computing device.

The agreement seems to allow them to “share and share alike”. Since the two devices are both so different, the agreement reached allows them both to use the name for their products. How will this work? Cisco’s device is a VoIP phone, and Apple’s is a cell phone and mobile computing device, so the two companies are not expecting there to be any confusion over the name. The agreement did put an end to the lawsuit Cisco has been threatening over Apple’s use of the name, at least for now. Future marketing and sales conflicts could very well send them into court, but that is unlikely.

Because some of the agreement’s legalese included the term “interoperability”, meaning the two devices may eventually have some joint features allowing them to work together, some suspect that Cisco was really trying for this piece of Apple’s financial pie all along. Future interoperability would be a huge leap for the much smaller Cisco. It is thought that Cisco’s wi-fi department may be where this interoperability ties in. For now, they have compromised, and it’s anyone’s guess how that will shake out.

Update, February 23, 2007: here, here, here, here

Tags: Apple, Cisco, iPhone

Author: Leslie Poston, © 2007, All Rights Reserved

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