CISCO sues APPLE over iPhone Patent

Wow, now here are two behemoths squaring off. I am not sure who will win this, but I have to think that CISCO has a lot more cash on hand to feed the legal meter. Plus, they don't have the legacy of past legal issues. This was actually the first thing I thought of when I heard the announcement. So, it wasn't a surprise. I just couldn't imagine why Apple overlooked this...unless they were purposely doing it for the PR. I had to think there was a cheaper route though, this will get very expensive. It turns out that Apple had tried to negotiate with CISCO, but suddenly abandoned the negotiations, bolstering the argument that they are simply too arrogant or too conceited to honor others' IP rights. The executives at CISCO seem genuinely offended with Apple on this. I can't blame them. Apple seems to be banking that their coolness and public popularity will win this in the public eye and force the courts to agree. I predict it will not happen that way and it will be likely very embarrassing to Apple.

Here's the link straight from CISCO's blog: http://blogs.cisco.com/news/2007/01/update_on_ciscos_iphone_tradem.html

and the Press Release:

http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2007/corp_011007.html

In truth the CISCO version of the iPhone is much more valuable and trend setting than Apple's cell phone redux. Not that Apple's wont be cool. Everything at Apple is well designed and cool, though I never like that it costs more and it not very open, if at all.

If you read my previous post on the iPhone, you already know that I think Apple has made a turn the wrong way. Steve is touting a me too phone as the second coming of mobile phones. Now, it's even more clear to me that Apple has veered off its successful path and is heading down an extremely treacherous road with reckless abandon, false bravado, and too much arrogance.