Well, it appears that the Palm Treo isn't in any immediate danger from Apple's upcoming iPhone. In fact, Apple's phone device won't even be called the iPhone because the "iPhone" is a voip phone made by Linksys. Cisco, their parent company, has owned that trademark since 1996.
Pictured here is one of the Linksys voip phones; the Wireless-G WIP320 Phone, which is Skype compatible.
There are questions about when Apple will be releasing its phone device. Some sites say that Apple is to reveal the phone today. Cult of Mac says that Apple hates introducing products on Mondays. They also say that MacWorld is coming up in less than a month, and Apple has to hold back something to announce other than the iTV.
If you recall, Ed Colligan had answered some questions last month at a breakfast Q&A about competition from Apple and others entering the mobile phone market. Dieter pointed me to a great article by Mike Mace over at Mike's blog Mobile Opportunity. Mike had a lot of interesting things to say about the Q&A.
Mike points out that the question asked of Colligan wasn't really focused on the Apple iPhone, but on all of the new competitors that might be entering the market. Below is one of the interesting things that Mike Mace had to say:
Even if that had been the question, it was the wrong question. The Treo is an e-mail phone for people who want business productivity. If Apple's making an iPhone, it'll be a music phone for people who want entertainment. Those are completely different markets. If you think there's a huge competitive overlap between them then you've got your head stuck someplace. (Colligan didn't say that, but I wish he had.)
I wonder what Apple will call its phone? The "iPhone" would have been so perfect. How about the "iCall" or the "iCommunicator"? I'm sure Apple will have a cool name.
No matter what Apple calls its phone device, this gadget girl will be sticking with her "Palm Treo", thank you very much!
