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Cisco -- not apple -- announces iPhone branded VoIP phones
We hate to break it to everybody who thought the inevitable Apple phone was going to be called the iPhone, but Cisco, which has apparently had the trademark on the name since the 90s, is launching a line of Linksys "iPhone" VoIP devices (yes, that's right, lower case "i", uppercase "P"). Why wait until now to launch the iPhone name? We can't say for sure, but we imagine Cisco was probably trying to work behind the scenes to sell the rights to the name to Apple, but things didn't pan out -- but since "iPhone" is already a fairly ubiquitous brand without even being launched, hey, why not run with it? We won't dwell long on the loss of the name iPhone to describe the Applephone (which is what we'll henceforth be calling it), so on to the gear. Expect to see the $180 iPhone Dual-Mode Internet Telephony Kit for Skype CIT400 (pictured), which from what we can tell, is merely a Skype handset; also, announced is the $200 iPhone Wireless-G Phone for Skype WIP320 (pictured after the break), a SIP VoIP phone. So, that's it; Cisco cashes in on the iPhone name, current VoIP products get rebadged to the new label, and we all rest easy knowing that our cellphone investments are still safe for at least another three weeks or so.
