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Editorial - The Orgins of the Apple iPhone Name
by , 1:50 PM EST, December 26th, 2006
Now that Linksys, which is a division of Ciso, has announced the iPhone, everyone is wondering how they did it. And what Apple will do about it. The Pittsburg Post-Gazette summarized the puzzle on Sunday.
The article started with what we know: "But the name has caused a stir. Cisco has owned the trademark on the name "iPhone" since 2000, when it acquired the company that originally registered the name, InfoGear Technology Corp." [In 1997]
A search of the U.S. Government Trademark site confirms that in Trademark serial number 75076573, registration number 2293011. The filing shows that the first commercial use of that term was in June 1997.
Digging a little more, there is a site that describes the history of the term iPhone as used by Apple. The first evidence of the term iPhone in an Apple context seems to be by the New York Times back on August 18th, 2002. The first time Steve Jobs was confronted with the term appears to be on September 11th, 2002 in a Hearld Tribune interview. But Mr. Jobs didn't use the term himself.
All along the way, Apple seems to have been aware of the InfoGear trademark even as they filed for a patent on a cell phone/media device. The patent application describes a cell phone and media combination device, but a search of the actual patent application reveals that the term "iPhone" is never used. Apple has also indicated awareness of this by seeking trademark protection for the term "iPhone" in Singapore and Australia (2002) and Canada (2004), but interestingly, not the U.S. until a company in Delaware filed for that trademark on September 25th, 2006, and it is identical to filings used by Apple in other countries. That trademark filing also appears at the U.S. Government trademark site.
Finally, in terms of Internet domains, Apple has obtained the domain www.iphone.org, which points to the Apple site, but they do not currently own www.iphone.com. All this suggests that Apple has been aware of the previous trademarks, has trademarked the term in other countries, has patented a cell phone/music player combination, and appears to be working behind the scenes to get all its ducks in a row. Finally, Apple could claim that it has a family of trademarks in other countries and make a legal case, but an article at CNN Money suggests that is "not a strong argument." If Apple tried to buy the trademark from Cisco, it appears from the release of the real iPhone that Apple was unsuccessful. Apple hates to be gouged for money when another company beats them to the punch, and so perhaps the offer went the other way and Apple declined.
Anyone for iPod 6G?
Observer Comments
Tue Dec 26, 2006 6:23 pm Subject: iPhone is a dumb name
And I doubt Apple would ever actually use the term. I'm sure that their "use" or protection of it through the means cited above is only a roundabout way of protecting it from abuse by others. I've seen elsewhere the term "iPod Phone" which would make more sense to me, and it sounds better as well. I've never liked the term "iPhone" and hope that Apple wouldn't be tacky enough to use this term themselves.... So, while I'm sure they would be smart enough to protect it, I hope they are also smart enough to not actually call any shipping product an iPhone--besides, by now, it's almost tainted by the abuse in the media!
-Jon
Tue Dec 26, 2006 6:30 pm Subject: It's not just iPhone
I tried the "i" combinations I could think of for an Apple cell phone, but all are in commercial use:
iPhone (Linksys)
iTalk (Griffin)
iCall
iConnect
iSpeak
iCel
iCell
About the only one I thought of that they could use would be some variant of iChat, like "iChat Phone," or maybe "PodPhone" or "PhonePod."
Edit: JonGl posted his message while I was writing mine.
Of course, as John hinted at the end, Apple could just call it "iPod." They didn't call the iPod 5G, "iPod video"--the press did that.
Tue Dec 26, 2006 6:51 pm Subject: iFön ayone?
How about "iCantBelieveYouGuysAreStillTalkingAboutThisVaporwareAppleCellPhone"?
But if you all really want to know the real name... It's "icicle", as in cool. And while Apple is making the OS and applications for it, Motorola is doing the manufacturing and the marketing. "Apple Icicle by Motorola". You heard it here first.
Wed Dec 27, 2006 12:17 am Subject: Another name bites the dust
QuoteGuest wrote:
How about:
"iMobile"
Taken.
QuoteGuest wrote:
How about iFone ? Nice - short - and different:)) sounds and LOOKS more like and Apple term to me.
Alas, it also appears illiterate. It's a constant source of amusement that, in some areas, the "phone" company had to include an entry under "Fone."
Quotegeoduck wrote:
There's always MacPhone
I doubt that would sell. Apple didn't call the iPod the "MacPod," even though it was compatible only with Macs at first. Besides, "MacPod" doesn't say that it's a phone.
Wed Dec 27, 2006 5:50 am Subject: The real problem with iPhone
The real problem with "iPhone" as an Apple brand is that it just associates Apple with a generic, commodity thing. It doesn't create a thing that all competitors then strive to be. Take the original iMac. It made color choice for all kinds of products which weren't automobiles cool. Take the iPod. It instantly redefined the MP3 player space and gave it a name which Apple trademark lawyers and Apple marketers probably fought tough internal battles over how to preserve the mark. Look at something like the iSight camera, which is now "built-in" to MacBooks and iMacs. It's gone from stylish product to pinhole sized feature. Probably a good example of when iWhatever makes only a small splash.
Apple can't release an evolutionary device or a simple hybrid device. The established manufacturers are already doing these things very well and on very short development cycles. The only thing I can think of that they can revolutionize would be to make an "everywhere phone". It could use your landline, a WiFi hotspot, or a mobile phone network to place and receive calls to a single number. Bonus points if it could open my garage door too.
At any rate, when this thing doesn't materialize, expect AAPL to drop the low 70s and the usual suspect analysts to whip us all into a frenzy with more impending iPhone news. Will we ever get wise to their game?
Wed Dec 27, 2006 7:26 am Subject:
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. "Fone" is not a grammatically correct spelling, because there's no such thing. It's either "correct spelling" or it is not.
"Fone" is like "Karl's Kwik Krazy Kars" and other supposedly catchy advertising labels. Vodafone is a good example, where "fone" has been incorporated into a marketing brand, and has become a "thing in itself". Whenever I see "Vodafone", I don't see it as a word ending in "fone", I see may carrier's name. I bought my current mobile phone at "Mobile Fone Solutions". I just shrugged, went in and bought it anyway.
Good grammar and spelling is not so that people can point out that others are ignorant, although I'm with gslusher on his point of having to redirect people from looking a "fone". (FFS!) It's so when others read your sentences, they don't have to go back and re-read them to find out what you were trying to say. "just a hint check out the #2 board of directors member - they where executive VP at a small movie company for 5 years - PIXAR!" I think I know what you were on about, but I have read that sentence three or four times and I don't know exactly.
Large metro areas don't necessarily have better literacy rate than others. There are no areas, anywhere, where everyone is literate (although I understand that Cuba's rates are world-beating!) Note that gslusher didn't mention large urban areas; those were your words. So where's the bigotry?
Wed Dec 27, 2006 8:25 am Subject: Re: iFone name - part 2
QuoteAnonymous wrote:
Maybe you feel the spelling is illiterate gslusher but Fone is a fairly common spelling around the world and one that many people would recognize. Maybe not a grammatically correct one but common at any rate - remember not everyone is an American and most likely this will be a world phone. Also you might want to check out the ownership of iFone.com - just a hint check out the #2 board of directors member - they where executive VP at a small movie company for 5 years - PIXAR! BTW the domain ifone.com isn't being used it just points to another company.
And thank you very much for your bigoted view that "some areas" needed to list the phone company under fone. I guess you live in a large metro area where nobody is illiterate? I wonder where that utopia is.
I think you proved my point. I grew up in an area that DID have an entry at "Fone Company." Perhaps you should listen to Jeff Foxworthy's comedy routines.
Wed Dec 27, 2006 11:46 am Subject: Re: Practice what you preach
QuoteAnonymous wrote:QuoteLaurieF wrote:
just a hint check out the #2 board of directors member - they where executive VP at a small movie company for 5 years - PIXAR!
If you're going to preach about grammar and spelling, please check your own first. I think "where" should be "were".
Check again. Laurie put those words in quotation marks because they came from the message she was replying to. It helps to read messages in context and to direct your criticism at the person who actually wrote the text you cited.
Wed Dec 27, 2006 1:08 pm Subject: Re: Practice what you preach
QuoteAnonymous wrote:QuoteLaurieF wrote:
just a hint check out the #2 board of directors member - they where executive VP at a small movie company for 5 years - PIXAR!
If you're going to preach about grammar and spelling, please check your own first. I think "where" should be "were".
You plonker. You absolute idiot. That was a quote from the previous poster. That was the whole fecking point! That sentence was so hard to read, I had to go back and re-read it several times.
Preaching! Hah!
(Oops - gslusher got there first. But I'm not deleting this.)
Wed Dec 27, 2006 1:09 pm Subject: Re: Practice what you preach
Wed Dec 27, 2006 5:07 pm Subject: Re: Practice what you preach
Wed Dec 27, 2006 5:27 pm Subject:
And here, Laurie is an unusual name for a woman, although it does exist.
And that really goes to prove, by happenchance, my point. What things (or people) are called is not really that important. In little time, nobody will give a toss for whatever Apple calls its putative phone - it'll be absorbed into the phone itself.
Take, for example, iPod. I think the cliché is: What's with that? What does the "pod" in that mean? is it something small for putting things in? is it a seed from which a flower will bloom? is it an MP3 player?
Whatever Apple comes out with in the form of a communication device, heretofore unanimously referred to as the iPhone, it will be, as all such devices now are, a great deal more than a phone.
I suggest that it could be named the iCom. I communicate. It retains the "i" designator, as an Apple product, and states, simply, more than "phone". Which it undoubtledly will be.
I would like to have an iCom.
Sat Dec 30, 2006 10:12 pm Subject: Re: The Apple Phone
Quotearkough wrote:
Whatever Apple comes out with in the form of a communication device, heretofore unanimously referred to as the iPhone, it will be, as all such devices now are, a great deal more than a phone.
I suggest that it could be named the iCom. I communicate. It retains the "i" designator, as an Apple product, and states, simply, more than "phone". Which it undoubtledly will be.
I would like to have an iCom.
Alas, that, too, has been taken.
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