Media Wonk

A crack in the garden wall? - February 1, 2007

Apple now says it wants to discuss interoperability.
Let me repeat that: Apple now says it wants to discuss interoperability.
In a joint statement  issued late Wednesday, Apple Inc. and Cisco Systems said they had agreed to extend the time for Apple to respond to Cisco's trademark infringement lawsuit over use of the name iPhone "allow for discussions between the companies with the aim of reaching agreement on trademark rights and interoperability."
As discussed here before, the behavior of both Apple and Cisco in the months leading up to the lawsuit's filing just didn't point to an actual dispute over the name iPhones. Given Apple's ambitions for its handheld device, it's hard to imagine that any payment it would have had to make to Cisco for the name would be prohibitive. And there can't have been many people outside of Cisco who even knew that it had a product called the iPhone.
So why couldn't they just cut the deal and write the check?
Because Cisco is concerned about more than the name. It's concerned about Apple entrenching its proprietary formats in spaces Cisco means to dominate.
Cisco CEO John Chambers said recently he simply wanted "interoperability, or the ability of the Apple phone to work smoothly with Cisco product."
But for Apple, there's nothing simple about that idea. Walled gardens and proprietary technology are part of its corporate DNA and the essence of its business model.
The fact that Apple would now be willing to discuss making its technololgy interoperable with Cisco products is a significant development in itself, and suggests Cisco's legal claims are something more than "silly," as Apple had previously claimed.

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