The origin of the name IPhone

Few people know that both the names iPhone and iOS were obtained by Jobs from Cisco. The operating system of iPhone mobile phones-originally called iPhone OS.

Although Apple was the first to conceive of product names starting with i, such as iMac and iPod, the names iPhone and iOS were first registered as trademarks by Cisco, a giant in computer operation.

Adam Lashinsky, author of "Apple Insider", said that Jobs specifically contacted former Cisco executive Charles Giancarlo about these two names. The two companies have never been in the same market, with Apple targeting individual users and Cisco targeting business users. Therefore, Apple does not know why Cisco has the iPhone trademark.

The following excerpt is from Lashinsky's book:

Giancarlo received a call directly from Steve Jobs: saying he wanted it, Giancarlo recalled, he didn't pay for it We anything. It's like a promise that he will be our good friend. And we said, no, we're going to use it. Shortly after that, Apple's legal department called to say that they believed Cisco had abandoned the brand, meaning that Apple's legal view was that Cisco had not vigorously defended its intellectual property by promoting the name. Giancarlo said Cisco threatened to sue before the launch. Then, a day after Apple announced the iPhone, Cisco filed a lawsuit against it.

This negotiation shows some of Steve Jobs’ negotiating tactics. Giancarlo, said Jobs called him during dinner on Valentine's Day and the two parties bargained. Jobs talked for a while and asked, and Giancarlo responded. Then he said to me, "Can you do your email at home?" Giancarlo was surprised. That was 2007, after all, when the Internet was ubiquitous in American homes, not to mention Silicon Valley executives who had spent years working in the high-level Internet industry. He asked me if I could get email at home. You know he just wanted my approval -- in the best way possible. Cisco quickly dropped the lawsuit. The two sides reached a vague agreement to cooperate in areas beneficial to both parties.

Cisco previously mentioned that the name of its core equipment operating system is IOS (International Operating System). Later, Apple and Jobs decided to name the iPhone's operating system iOS in 2010.