'iPhone' could cost $325m/yr, already lost?

Royalties? Not gonna happen. What FUD!

...I am an Apple fan, though Apple does protect its interests vigerously. Jobs even stated as much in his address, and though I cannot quote him word for word, he said that iPhone had hundreds of patents that "we will defend", (do you remember that quick comment?) and so it makes sense that what goes around comes around. Cisco had a copyright in the name iPhone, and I would imagine that years ago when some guy did that in anticipation of what Apple would do years in the future, well, I bet Cisco will buy him lunch. A person with that much forethought is worth his weight in gold.

1) There has been NO damage so far - no apple iphones have been sold 2) Apple would never agree to this royalty amount. They can always release the phone under Apple Phone. maybe not as nice but will be 99% as effective.

This is all sensationalization to get eyeballs off of apples reputation. All of this is still in negotiation.

This is all a sign that Cisco is in deep shit as a company. When you start resorting to low class tactics like this it can only mean you're desperate and that your bottom line is falling apart. Too bad. Cisco was a good company with good products.

Red herring more precisely: there is no real reason for the entire system to be closed; any portion of it could be sandboxed to addressed real issues. Cingular simply doesn't want to risk the possibility of real innovation happening on their network without ensuring that the profit is exclusive to them. We've all seen how the telcom industry works, and doesn't work. It's amazing that Apple got one of them to play ball at all, and its almost a certainty that they insisted that Apple be as hostile to openness as they are. Well, if iPhone does crack them, then something else will. No industry can be as anti-customer oriented as the telcoms and survive for long. Just look at that overweight guy from Cingular on stage with Jobs at Macworld. What a visual for the industry. Too lazy to memorize a boring speech, bloated and out of touch with the audience. Why did he even bother coming? It was obvious he didn't really give a damn. I'll take lean, fit, proactive, interesting, and in -tune Apple anyday over the U.S. telcoms. Hopefully, Apple will just establish their credentials with this Cingular affiliation and then buy up some smaller carrier and do it right the second time.

Apple Inc. is one company that understands the trademark battle. They won twice against Apple Records. Does the world really think Apple Inc. is just stupid?

Has got to be the stupidest thing I've read so far on this issue. Apple will pay Cisco $1B over 5 years to use the iPhone name.

OR, they'll just change the name of the phone and not pay them a single effin' penny.



Hmmmmmmmmm, I wonder which path they'll take.

Im willing to donate my name to Apple if they want to use it.... Nobody on Earth has claimed it yet besides me. I am making an honest offer here Apple dudes, You can save billions!

moron. Cisco is the largest networking company in the world. In fact almost every piece of networking hardware that everyone uses is either made my Cisco or has some Cisco component! They are a financially strong company.

Apple will have to change the name of the iPhone (my guess is Apple Phone) just like they did with iTV which is now Apple TV.

This one is a no brainier. You can already see it at the web page. If this is an issue, they will call it Apple Phone. They are not going to pay Cisco. Period