Give the dog an iBone
Steve Robinson:
December 20th, 2006
It’s been a long time since Apple first hinted that their minimalist technological stylings would at last be cast upon the world of phones. The Apple faithful were looking forward to the New Year and an announcment at Macworld in January which would finally shed light on the project. Unfortunately, Cisco have gone and spoilt the New Years party by announcing the release of their own Linksys ‘iPhone’ VoIP range of devices. You see, Cisco have actually owned the much-coined name since the early 1990’s, and so Apple will presumably have to find a new name for their product. There is a chance that Apple could still purchase the name from Cisco, though perhaps a recent failure to reach an agreed price may explain the delay in using the name. The loss of the instantly recognisable iProduct name is a blow to the launch, but knowing Apple’s natural aptitude for marketing, I think it’ll be the quality of the product that speaks volumes, not how it’s identified.