Would an Apple "Telepod" smell as sweet as an iPhone? How about an Apple "Mobi?" These are just some of the names that were floated before the company settled on the familiar moniker we've all grown to adore.
Former Apple ad chief Ken Segall revealed the juicy tidbit in a recent speech at the University of Arizona's department of marketing.
"When the iPhone came out... there were some legal issues," Segall said.
Few still remember, but when it was first released in 2007, there was already a product on the market called the "Linksys iPhone," manufactured by Cisco.
Cisco itself acquired the name in 2003 when it purchased InfoGear Technology Corporation, which was using the name for what was at the time already a fairly innovative device. The InfoGear iPhone had a sliding keyboard, an LCD touchscreen and you could use it to browse the internet and send email.
It was one of the first devices to offer such functionality. The hardware did not take off, though, and the name fell into disuse.
Then in December of 2006, less than a month before the release of Apple's iconic handset, Cisco rebranded their entire line of voice-over-IP phones to the "Linksys iPhone." Not only was the name still in use by Cisco, they'd just given it new life.
Then on January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs famously announced that Apple had successfully synthesized magic, and were using it to power a revolutionary new device called the iPhone.
Cisco promptly released a statement saying it was already in negotiations with Apple to resolve the trademark infringement. The following day however, they filed suit against the company.
The litigation was resolved Feb. 20, 2007. The court ruled both companies would be allowed to use the "iPhone" moniker. The full terms of the agreement were kept confidential, but there's likely a provision that in some way limits Cisco's use of the name, since the company doesn't use it very much.
