Apple and Cisco explore iPhone compatibility

Apple Store“Cisco Systems Inc. and Apple Inc., each of which has a device called the iPhone, are exploring about a half-dozen ways their products can work together, said Cisco Chief Development Officer Charlie Giancarlo,” Ari Levy reports for Bloomberg.

Levy reports, “The companies agreed to share the iPhone name in February, averting a potential court case. Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs and Cisco are now discussing how to make Apple’s iPhone compatible with Cisco’s business and consumer equipment, Giancarlo said. Apple plans to start selling its iPhone, which combines a mobile phone with the iPod, in June.”

“‘We’re optimistic, but it’s still early,’ Giancarlo, 49, said about the negotiations in an April 13 interview in San Francisco. Ways in which the companies’ products can work together ‘are now being investigated by both technical teams,'” Levy reports.

Levy reports, “The talks aren’t centered on making Cisco’s iPhone, an Internet-based home phone, compatible with Apple’s. Cisco wants the Apple iPhone to work with its corporate phone systems, Giancarlo said. A partnership would allow users to get the same services, such as instant messaging and teleconferencing, on their Cisco desk phones and Apple iPhones.”

Levy reports, “In addition to getting Apple’s iPhone to work with Cisco corporate systems, the companies also are looking at ways their products can work together in the consumer market, Giancarlo said. ‘`We’re now in the investigation phase,’ he said. ‘We’ll know more in a couple months.'”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Note: Under the agreement, both companies are free to use the ‘iPhone’ trademark on their products throughout the world. Both companies acknowledge the trademark ownership rights that have been granted, and each side has dismissed any pending actions regarding the trademark. In addition, Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications. Other terms of the agreement are confidential.

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18 Comments

  1. Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications. Other terms of the agreement are confidential.

    Notice “security”?

    Cisco is a tool of the US NIS, their routers have been found to contain backdoors.

    “Security” to them means access to the iPhone by Uncle Sam.

    Uncle Sam works closely with many big American buisnesses to gain access or enforce certain things.

    Take Xerox for instance, make a color copy and you’ll see little light yellow dots on the paper. These dots represent a code for time, date and machine number of each copy.

    Take AT&T tapping the internet backbone for the NIS.

    Why has Apple been able to keep their OS so secure for so many years by simply closing ports “out of the box” and Microsoft hasn’t? Because the NIS and US Army Intelligence told them not too.

    Now that Apple has basically a computer and a phone together, Cisco (aka Big Brother’s friend) wants in.

    I’m telling you the truth that major US buisnesses are working very closely with the US Government.

    Apple has been told to “get aboard”, THIS IS WHY MAC OS IS DELAYED! The iPhone software has to be “reworked”.

  2. @ Wiseguy –
    One correction – OSX is more secure than M$’s Windows because Windows is poorly designed by M$’s incompetence and not because the government told them to be design poorly.

    Don’t give M$ an excuse for their ignorance.

  3. Eh, WiseGuy, seems like the “Guy” part may be accurate but the rest of it… not so much.

    As to the rest: I suspected a deal like this from the outset. Cisco never used the trademark, except for some silly sticker slapped on some phone packages in late 2006. Apple went ahead with the iPhone name because they had good reason to believe they could get it, free and clear, although they may have had to endure a long and press-negative legal battle.

    Instead both companies opted for the win-win. Cisco didn’t want the trademark, they wanted in on the grand Apple scheme for Total Home Domination, which could be very advantageous for Apple as well in the long run.

    Right now I’m watching cable TV via a Scientific Atlanta digital DVR box supplied by my cable company. Cisco owns Scientific Atlanta. Cisco is also the provider of massive corporate systems, as noted in the article.

    Combined, these two companies are formidable on both major computing fronts. This is just the beginning.

  4. Been with Apple from the begining, they always have been anti-establishment/big brother etc.

    Teaming up with Cisco just doesn’t seem right for them.

    It’s like using Office on a Mac, it just doesn’t feel right.

    One starts to worry what all that evil corrupted M$ code is doing to the innards of Mac OS X.

    Same thing with Cisco, one will begin to worry how far Uncle Sam will go in peeking around inside the iPhone since there really isn’t any laws in place.

    Like Uncle Sam even bothers to follow the laws they make because they certainly don’t.

    But if you disagree with them, then apparantly your the enemy or your tin foil hat is on too tight or something.

    How about respect and privacy? Huh?

    I’m sure everyone here has something they rather not have everyone else know about, even if it doesn’t break any laws.

  5. This would be a VERY GOOD deal!
    They’d be the first to build a truly transparent dualmode phone that can be really a cellphone, and automatically really an ipphone.
    The nokia dual-mode gsm’s are not that, they need additional configs… Here in europe (and cisco iptel is my daily job) everybody’s “crying” for dualmode gsms that really work!

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