Katie Marsal
Cisco, Apple agree on iOS trademark
On its website Monday, Cisco revealed that it has agreed to license the use of the iOS name to Apple for its mobile operating system on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Cisco owns the trademark for IOS, its core operating system used for nearly two decades.
"The license is for use of the trademark only and not for any technology," Cisco noted.
The company said that Cisco IOS software is the most widely leveraged network infrastructure software in the world, and is currently found on millions of active systems.
The prior agreement is different from 2007, when Apple introduced the iPhone — a trademark that was also owned by Cisco. Following Apple's iPhone announcement, Cisco sued, alleging infringement.
A month later, the two companies reached a settlement that allowed both companies to use the iPhone trademark on their products throughout the world.
Apple also did not own the name iPad earlier this year, when its new multitouch device was introduced. Fujitsu released the first product to carry that name in 2002. Days before Apple's iPad was announced, the Cupertino, Calif., company acquired the trademark from Fujitsu.
Keynote, iWork could come to iPhone
Apple on Monday had a screenshot on its website showing the option to open an e-mail attachment on the iPhone in Keynote. Currently, the only iOS version of Keynote available is on the iPad, along with Pages and Numbers, rounding out the iWork suite.
The screenshot was quickly grabbed by Pocket-lint before Apple pulled it down. The image was replaced with a screen that read "Open in 'iBooks'" instead of "Open in 'Keynote.'"
Since the trio of multitouch iWork applications were released for iPad, they have consistently been among the top selling software on the App Store. One projection suggested the iPad versions of the iWork suite will earn Apple $40 million a year.
Charles Martin
Christine McKee
William Gallagher
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Amber Neely
18 Comments
well that answers that question
Being a network guy myself I really wondered about the iOS name as I already knew it belonged to Cisco. Glad to see this one won't be coming back to bite Apple in the behind in the future!
I doubt it. On iPhone's new tech specs page, it clearly says it can open files such as keynote, pages, numbers, jpg, gif, word, pdf, etc. It only means that it has viewers that can open these files; not that it will have keynote. The screenshot may have been produced on the iPad, since they have exactly the same OS, but the app is available there. I can't imagine a working productivity application on such a small screen.
Then again, who knows, it's Apple, after all. If anyone can build such an app, Apple can.
In case anyone is interested, here's a recent comparison of the new iPhone with like smartphones
http://fortunebrainstormtech.files.w...ng?w=600&h=804I must say I'm impressed with the latest iPhone.
On its website Monday, Cisco revealed that it has agreed to license the use of the iOS name to Apple for its mobile operating system on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Cisco owns the trademark for IOS, its core operating system used for nearly two decades.
There's a little nugget gold there; Cisco call its IOS with big capital "I", while Apple call its iOS with teenie-weenie "i" letter.
Before Apple announced its newly renamed iOS, the company came to an agreement with the owner of the trademark, Cisco.
That's a bit surprising, knowing how often Steve Jobs love to jump on trademarked names before his lawyers use all of their arsenals and tricks to get it for him.
Maybe both company already talked about this when Cisco sued Apple for the iPhone name trademark, and they have came up with the agreement not long after. If this true, that would mean Apple had been eyeing the name for quite some time..