The Original iPhone

Posted by: Arik Hesseldahl on January 11, 2007

A commenter to a previous post Taa Wongbe sent this link to an image of the original iPhone from InfoGear, which appears to be the same device released at CES in 1997 and noted by BusinessWeek at the time. And here’s a picture of another model courtesy of a New Zealand Internet Service provider that appears to offer a service geared to the phone.

So this, it would seem, is the device upon which Cisco, as the owner of Infogear since 2000, bases its trademark ownership claim. Now I’m not a lawyer, but it seems to me, somewhat interesting that Cisco hurriedly rolled out a name it had appeared not to use at all — or at least not much anyhow — in the intervening years.

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Reader Comments

Leflyman

January 11, 2007 04:31 PM

It's just as interesting to note that "iPhone" has been an expected name for an Apple product since at least 1999, when Apple registered "http://www.iphone.org"-- which currently redirects to information about the new device. For the last seven years, industry and consumer speculation has used the name "iPhone" for a potential Apple cell-phone-- probably because Apple had been applying for trademark status for it worldwide. Obviously Cisco was aware of Apple's intentions, knew the built-in cool cachet of having an "i-" device, and attempted to "cash in" by releasing a like-named product just a three weeks prior to Apple's announcement.

See this illuminating timeline for the historical context: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/timeline-apple-iphone-rumors-1999-present

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A blog on the daily doings of Apple and the many companies in its orbit, with insight and analysis by two longtime Apple-watchers BusinessWeek Senior Writer Peter Burrows and BusinessWeek.com Senior Technology Writer Arik Hesseldahl.

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