Apple also Registers iPhone Trademark in UK

I wouldn't read too much into the classes that the Trademark is filed under. A patent application is designed to specifically identify the item which is the subject of the application to a degree of specificity as to protect the intellectual property. On the other hand, a trademark application protects a name or brand (in this case - iPhone). The degree of protection would be defined by the classes under which the trademark is filed.

In other words, they would likely file a trademark application for the name/brand under as many electronic, communication, networking type classes as they could possibly imagine and justify to give that name as broad a protection as possible. That doesn't necessarily mean that the item that will end up being called the iPhone is defined by any of the specific classes.

Well I guess I'm happy that I am subscribed to .Mac :D

Why hasn't Apple trademarked iPhone in the U.S.? Or is there international trademarking? I don't really understand this whole thing yet. All I know is Apple's going to make something, software and/or hardware for people to talk.

Yes, i hope it's a .mac only thing. Then 1% of Mac users and .1% of computer users will get the chance to use it!

I think iPhone is just another iApp. I say it's a phone answering and voice mail software for OSX.

You get a phone call, your Mac will answer and record the callers voice message, etc.. It could probably catalog pager messages or SMS messages as well. It could have voices mail 'boxes' for different users. Sync the messages to a PDA for later playback, blah blah. All kinds of crap.

It would be nice to have. I hate answering machines.

:)

I agree with Tue12.

i would guess that US trademark process takes a lil' longer than elsewhere, so perhaps its still on someone's desk.

as far as what it is, i find the mention of the name being applied to an aparatus for rental interesting.

If you remember the old software that used the GeoPort modems...there was a good bit of software out there that did the voicemail thing..I would not be surprised if Apple did not re-package that, upgrade it, and release it as an iApp....

I think such a program worthy of an iPhone trademark would most likely involve internet telephony, which I expect will gradually take over the non-mobile telephone market once it is completely interoperable with regular phone systems. Why? Because it just makes sense to have only one wired "data" line into your house, and it's much cheaper, flexible, and efficient than a regular phone line.

Of course, such a program could also be designed for regular telephony like Tue12 suggested (voice mail and fax functionality are givens in either case, although voice mail could be most reliably handled at a central location, as is the case with all mobile phones but here perhaps with .mac). I would also expect it to tie into/automatically update the address book, and perhaps work with iChat somehow.

Incidentally, this also ties in nicely with an IP phone iDevice - like a cordless phone, independent of but working with your computer (via iSync in particular) over your 802.11b network. (Of course a microphone equipped computer could do the same job) Perhaps this is the real iPhone.

Of course there is also the issue of the mobile phones, which by all rights should be integrated into this scheme as well and would largely obviate the need for a iPhone device per se. Ideally, you would have one number/IPaddress per person/office/family that would route to where they are and operate in the cheapest most efficient fashion - i.e. you have a mobile that's in range of a high speed wireless connection, and rather than sending/recieving an expensive call over the cell network it transparently sends a very cheap or free one over the internet.

Rendezvous' automatic addressing and naming would almost certainly be necessary to make such a scheme work, and its automatic local resource discovery would offer additional possibilities at the local level - including high-function-intercoms, mms meshes, and matchmaking (including the non-romantic variety).

If this is a software solution, I hope it's something slick. If it's nothing more than a phone answering machine, I think many will be very disappointed. At least it would keep those modem add-on sales up so that they can clear out that inventory. ;)