Will the iPhone become the Phone?

By now everyone who knows about the iPhone also knows that Cisco owns the trademark on "iPhone" in the United States. Cisco and Apple were in negotiations over the US trademark, but then Cisco got mad and decided to take it to court. Everyone assumes it's a matter of money. But now Cisco has said something very interesting:

What were the issues at the table that kept us from an agreement? Was it money? No. Was it a royalty on every Apple phone? No. Was it an exchange for Cisco products or services? No.

Fundamentally we wanted an open approach. We hoped our products could interoperate in the future.

- http://blogs.cisco.com/news/2007/01/update_on_ciscos_iphone_tradem.html

Reading between the lines, Apple already tried greeting Cisco with a dumptruck full of cash, and Cisco said "no, thanks, we already have several of those." Rather, Cisco wanted to be allowed to play in Apple's new ballpark. Rather a cagey move by Cisco. But Apple, famous for exerting end-to-end control over their products, naturally balked at that.

But then why did Apple go ahead and announce it as "iPhone" anyway?

For starters, Apple does own a trademark on "iPhone" in some other countries, just not in the United States. If you announce a product which will (eventually) be sold in those countries, but you make the announcement in a country where you don't hold the trademark, have you broken the law? I don't know.

Also, remember that about 6 months ago, Apple pre-announced a product codenamed "iTV" which is now officially known as tv (or, AppleTV.) Are they going to defend against the lawsuit by saying iPhone is just a project name? Is that a defensible position? Again, don't know.

Several people, including the venerable Bob Cringely, are going with the theory that any publicity is good publicity, and announcing it as the "iPhone" now cements the correlation between iPod and iPhone in the public consciousness, even if it ships under another name.

Or, did Apple just assume everything would work out the way they wanted? That would be a very John Sculley thing to do, but it's not beyond possibility.