A Few Final Words About iPhone and other Potential Apple Macworld Announcements


Warning: time is running out to issue predictions regarding what cool, new products and services Apple will announce at the Macworld Expo next week. If you’ve got Apple fever, here’s a little something to keep your temperature high over the weekend.

In a posting Thursday, AppleInsider blogger posted information from the latest Macworld Rumor Roundup from research and investment firm PiperJaffray.

The roundup gives numerical rankings/probabilities for a variety of products that Apple potentially could be unveiling. I won’t be a spoiler—you’ll need to read McLean’s post to get the whole scoop. But here’s a quick ‘n dirty summary of the alleged probabilities.

Event Certainty Rank
iPhone entering production phase (12 million units) in the next 2-6 months 9 out of 10
iTV (MSRP $299) released at Macworld 10 out of 10
iPhone with candy-bar form factor introduced in next 6-12 months 9 out of 10
Introduction during next 6-12 months of widescreen iPod with touch-sensitivity and wireless features 7 out of 10
Launch during next 6-12 months of second smartphone iPhone with integrated keyboard 7 out of 10
Introduction of iSight camera and 4GB or 8GB storage on iPhone during next 6-12 months 7 out of 10
During next 6-12 months, multiple carriers will provide service for iPhone (versus Cingular only) 6 out of 10
Launch of ultra-portable, 12-inch MacBook Pro during next 12-18 months 4 out of 10
Use of radio-transparent material for iPhone casing during next 12-18 months 3 out of 10
iChat Mobile and instant messaging made available on iPhone during next 12-18 months 2 out of 10
Release of OSX 10.5 (Leopard) at Macworld 3 out of 10

All of this is very well and good, but I can’t help but note that the vast majority of these predictions hinge on the idea that Apple will introduce an “iPhone” product this year. I suspect that Apple will launch such a product eventually, but 2007 may or may not be the golden year.

If nothing else, the iPhone hysteria should be dampened somewhat by the fact that the iPhone name is already taken. Or hadn’t you heard? Last month Cisco’s Linksys group introduced a line of seven VoIP/wireless products under the iPhone brand name. So even if Apple does bring a cell phone to market this year, it’ll almost certainly have to be called something other than iPhone—unless Linksys decides to sell the name to Apple.

As I noted in a previous blog post, trademark protection for the name “iPhone” has been filed for no fewer than four times with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office since 1994. The oldest apparently applicable document is Cisco’s, filed March 20, 1996, for “computer hardware and software for providing integrated telephone communication with computerized global information networks.”

Apple allegedly filed a trademark application for iPhone in a far-Eastern trademark office in the not-too-distant past, and the company did apply for an iPhone trademark in Canada in 2004, but that filing is disputed by Comwave Telecom.

Is an iPhone by any other name as sweet? When Apple does launch a cell phone, what will it be called?

See you on the other side once Macworld Expo gets underway and we finally, finally find out what Apple has up its sleeve.

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