what.com.es/next

Two days ago I went through the idea that Apple’s phone wouldn’t be named ‘iPhone’ as it is a registered trademark of Cisco Systems. Yesterday I had to admit that I was wrong as Steve Jobs surprisingly announced Apple’s new iPhone.

Well, today we’ve known that both companies were negotiating to use the same mark. Finally, on monday evening there was no agreement but Apple’s arrogance let Jobs announce the iPhone without permission.

One of the possibilities I pointed out yesterday was that this story would end up in court and so it will be. Cisco sues Apple over use of iPhone trademark. What comes next? Only time will tell.

I must admit that I was wrong in my yesterday’s post as I stated that Apple wouldn’t name ‘iPhone’ its expected new all-in-one device. Surprisingly, Apple has done it as announced in MacWorld Expo!

Surprisingly because ‘iPhone’ is a registered trademark of Cisco Systems. All right, you could think that Cisco has just licensed their trademark to be used by Apple but in fact they recently launched their own iPhone through Linksys. Anybody understands? Will we see future legal litigations?

Linksys’ iPhone is commercially available while Apple’s iPhone is still waiting to be authorized by the Federal Communications Commission but I guess Cisco and Apple will reach, if not yet, an agreement. After all, it’s just a question of money. What comes next? Only time will tell.

Tons have been said about the new product launchings Apple will announce in current MacWorld Expo. Everybody is expecting Steve Jobs to show the new iPhone, a gadget which is been widely thought of being a mixture between a digital music player and a smart phone.

Well, I don’t know if Steve (no last name is needed) is going to show the world the iTV (Apple’s thought device to compete against TiVo) or a new music player able to make phonecalls, but what I am really sure is that the latter is not going to be named iPhone anyway.

Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, registered “iPhone” as a mark back in late nineties, but it has not been but till now that they have launched the iPhone product, which is, as Linksys says, more than a phone as it is able to connect to Skype network or to send instant messages via Yahoo! Messenger but no mp3 player at all (just access multimedia content from the Internet).

The question is: why now? Has Linksys taken advantage from all the branding campaing to launch their product or is it just a coincidence? The choice is yours but if I were a Microsoft guy I would prepare the launching of the “Zune Phone” as soon as possible! What comes next? Only time will tell.