Who Has Bragging Rights to iPhone Name...

(Archived in: Related Miscellany Social Media Marketing)

...and other iName factoids?
Found this information posted over at BobMeetsWorld and thought it looked like fun. Next week the Apple iPhone will finally be available. Bob's post is entertaining with the iName gadget, and informative with a reminder on a chance to win Apple iPhone for free.

I created the "iBeDigital" graphic for this post with the "iName Tool".

Here is something that is not getting much play in the media. Did you know that there are several companies that are using the name "IPhone"? It looks like Cisco had a pretty good claim to the trademark with the Linksys VoIP iPhone, and there even was a lawsuit pending with Apple that has evidently been settled out of court (see ZDnet.com or Newsroom.Cisco.com.

What follows is an outstanding and hilarious quote from industry analyst Roger Kay in a previous CNet article on the whole affair:

"This was just brass balls on the part of Steve (Jobs), to go in there and just grab that trademark and not pay a license for it or negotiate. It's the height of arrogance," Kay said. "He basically thinks he can get away with it."

Like my favorite line from an old gangster movie, "Money makes you do bad things".

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