Apple and Cisco agree on iPhone trademark

According to MarketWatch, Apple and Cisco have agreed on the terms of use for the trademark of iPhone.

Only a matter of days ago Cisco subsidiary Linksys announced a new suite of iPhones that featured built in Skype support. This action prompted speculation within the tech sector on whether the iPhone would be announced at all, which in hindsight was unnecessary.

However, Cisco remain the trademark owners for the term iPhone and according to a statement the companies have come to an agreement after extensive negotiations.

“It is our belief that Apple intends to agree to the final document. We expect to receive a signed agreement [Tuesday],” a Cisco representative said in a statement given to MarketWatch.

My spin on this is that Apple will not be allowed to offer any form of internet telephony on the iPhone. I watched the entire keynote and iChat was distinctly absent, even though it would have been a perfect application to tie the Mac and iPhone. Personally I was expecting Apple to beef up iChat to a proper softphone in the same ilk as Skype and the other softphones for Mac OS X.

While the iPhone is without doubt a huge step forward in mobile telephony and mobile computing, the lack of VoIP functionality is