Apple Gets to Use the iPhone Name

[Ed Hardy]

Last month, when Apple, Inc. announced that it was going to release a smartphone called the "iPhone" this move was more than a bit controversial, as this company didn't own the rights to this name, Cisco Systems did. And Cisco was very quick to sue Apple for violating its trademark.

Now, however, the two companies have announced that they have resolved their dispute over the “iPhone” trademark.

Under the agreement, both companies are free to call their products an “iPhone” throughout the world, and each side will dismiss any pending legal actions regarding this trademark.

There can be little doubt that Apple paid quite a bit for the rights to use a name owned by Cisco, but the financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Still, this agreement frees Apple to move ahead with its much anticipated smartphone.

An Overview of the Apple iPhone

The iPhone is Apple's upcoming combination smartphone and iPod.

(view large image)

This device will support the iTunes music service, and it will sport either 4 GB or 8 GB of built-in storage. It will support both music and video, which will be playable on its 3.5-inch, 320-by-480-pixel, 160 ppi display.

In addition, this will be a quad-band GSM/GPRS phone. It will include EDGE, but not UMTS/HSDPA. It will, however, have Wi-Fi b/g and Bluetooth 2.0.

The iPhone will run what Apple says is a version of OS X, the same operating system this company's desktop and laptop computers run. It will be able to run some -- but not all -- specially selected OS X applications, including the Safari web browser.

It will have a touchscreen, but not include a stylus. Instead, users will be expected to control it with their fingertips.

This smartphone is expected to debut in June from Cingular for $500 (4 GB) or $600 (8 GB).

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Thanks to Curious Cat for the tip.

 

[Adama D. Brown]

I wonder how much juice Cisco squeezed out of Apple.

[maceyr]

Now, I wonder how much Apple will want to pay Comwave in Canada for the iPhone name there, since Comwave owns the rights to that in Canada. What's in a name anyway? Considering how much they're paying for it, they'd better hope that it's worth it.