iPhone is announced, but not by Apple

Written by: Adam Christianson

Categories: News

Linksys iPhoneWell, true to the predictions on Gizmodo the iPhone was announced today, but it is not the device Apple fans have been waiting for. The iPhone is a new product from Linksys. It is a “dual mode” phone that connects to your computer and allows you to make both Voice Over IP (VoIP) calls and standard POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) calls. It offers VOIP integration with both Skype and Yahoo! Messenger Voice and includes other features like information services and multimedia integration. You can search for local business information and make calls directly from results with the push of a button. The integrated media viewer gives you the ability to access music, photos, and streaming video directly from the Internet and see the content right on the iPhone. So while not the Apple iPhone we had envisioned the Linksys version does have some nice features.

Now for the proverbial rain on the Mac rumor mongers parade… the Linksys iPhone product page does state that, “iPhone and Linksys are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc.”, so if Apple does have a phone product ready for launch at Macworld it will obviously not be called an “iPhone”. iTalk anyone?

There are 13 comments on iPhone is announced, but not by Apple:

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  1. Victor Cajiao | Dec 18 2006 - 03:42

    Why not iChat, if it’s true that they are going to incorporate some chat functions to their phones and possibly intergrate that to Leopard why wouldn’t they just stick with iChat and have that incompass, the mobile phone, and iChatAV?

    Just a thought

  2. Me1000 | Dec 18 2006 - 04:35

    It doesnt look bad, but it would defiantly look better with an apple logo on it!

  3. Alex Santos | Dec 18 2006 - 05:52

    Well, the Linksys iPhone Rocks! Love the feature set.

    If Apple markets a phone, it will be released under the iPod brand and iPod will just keep expanding it’s features. An iPod is an iPod is an iPod is a video player is a phone is a PDA etc.

    That’s my take, especially since iPhone is clearly out of the picture for Apple now.

    I love the way we just keep turning the pillow over and over and even the maccast has been getting caught up in the rumor mills as of late, sigh.

    Honestly, leave the rumors out of the podcast and let’s stick to cool tips and reviews. It’s so much more productive and isn’t nearly as depressing.

  4. sam | Dec 18 2006 - 05:28

    but how much?
    when you click on the link from linksys it takes you to amazon
    http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Link_C2&cid=1165633308239&sitename=US&pagename=ExtRedirect&from=iPhone&to=amazon

    there is no iphone on that page
    do a search on amazon and you get ” (Related Searches: apple phone, skype, unlocked)”

  5. Patrick | Dec 18 2006 - 07:56

    Lol. Now everybody is going to switch from predicting iPhone features to what the name will be! (I personally don’t believe the apple iphone will exist in the near future, but people think I’m crazy for saying that). Its just so funny to watch how people come up with these great and extravagant ideas for a product, and then something gets in the way and causes a change in course. Life’s a journey I guess!

  6. Nate | Dec 18 2006 - 11:30

    I don’t know why the linksys trademark is news to some people. Linksys has had their CIT300 out for about 4 months now and it has iPhone written in big letters on the side of the base station.

  7. Josh H. | Dec 19 2006 - 12:28

    I agree with Alex Santos. Chances are Apple will simply expand the iPod to include “iphone-esque” features. If we see this Apple phone, chances are it will be the 6th gen iPod (or whatever number they’re on now) with phone/pda/whatever capability.

  8. Dave | Dec 19 2006 - 01:48

    Well since Linksys is using “iPhone”. Apple could use something like “iCell” or something. Since it is a cellphone. I think the iChat name would be confused with the Mac chat software by the same name and iTalk is being used by Google, so that’s out. I don’t know what the name will be but, I know in typical Apple style it will be a very cool device, that will probably boost Apple’s sales and stock numbers significantly.

  9. Paul | Dec 19 2006 - 05:40

    iTalk… catchy name as well. Probably why Griffin chose it for the iTalk Pro

    http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/italkpro/

    but that is one cool commercial on the Utube website, is it not?

    ***** Paul *****

  10. Alex Curtis | Dec 20 2006 - 11:51

    I agree that the Apple phone will likely be an iPod branded device, but it’d still have to be delineated in some way, right? “Phone” or “cell” isn’t necessarily universal terminology. In other parts of the English speaking world, they call cell phones “mobiles,” with the ‘i’ pronounced as “eye.” Maybe Apple will combine mobile and phone and dub the new device the “ipod mo-pho” :-)

  11. maccast | Dec 20 2006 - 12:47

    Alex,
    I like your thinking, so why not simple follow current iPod naming…

    iPod Nano
    iPod Shuffle

    And from Macworld (maybe?)…

    iPod Video
    iPod Mobile

    This also fits with the current naming strategy for branding all Macs, “Mac”.

  12. Dave | Dec 20 2006 - 01:28

    Oh I got it. Why doesn’t Apple just call it a MacPhone? It may sound lame to some but it kinda goes with Apple’s new name convention.

  13. Dickie | Dec 21 2006 - 01:55

    The iPhone looks horrifically awful.