What form will iPhone/Cisco integration take?

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 19 April 2007 09:30

IT Industry - Market

Recent reports have triggered a fresh wave of speculation about the foreshadowed integration of products from Apple and Cisco, which share the iPhone trademark.

Making Apple's iPhone compatible with Cisco's VoIP products would most probably mean the provision of a VoIP softphone allowing calls to be made and received over WiFi. Presumably such a client would expose features such as shared contact lists through an iPhone-style interface, and integrate messages held in Cisco's Unified Communications with the iPhone's visual voicemail.

Another possibility is that instead of integrating Unified Communications features with the iPhone's native capabilities, Cisco could develop - presumably with Apple's assistance - a stand-alone Unified Communications client for the iPhone, much as one-X Mobile Edition provides the features of an Avaya desk phone on S60 mobile phones from Nokia and other vendors.

Who has most to gain from this? I say Apple. Even if the iPhone becomes a big success, companies aren't going to choose a telecommunications vendor simply because it offers iPhone compatibility. On the other hand, integration will give Cisco users an additional reason to buy an iPhone rather than some other handset.

What's in it for Cisco? My guess is that they agreed to do this - and Apple agreed to help - as part of the trademark settlement. If Cisco knew its trademark was shaky, it made more sense to settle than go to trial. Cisco has a good image, but it is on the staid side. Providing iPhone support in Unified Communications will provide a little pizzazz.

Apple may have shown arrogance by announcing the iPhone before stitching up a deal with Cisco, but offering development support to Cisco (and, crucially, agreeing to authorise its software for the iPhone as long as it met quality standards) might have been the concession needed to allow Cisco to agree to trademark sharing without losing face.

As we get closer to the iPhone's arrival, American Technology Research is claiming that AT&T (Cingular) will offer buyers a rebate of between $US50 and $US150 as a sweetener, and that Apple will receive a trailing commission from AT&T in respect of customers who purchase the iPhone directly from Apple. While we have no real idea of its veracity at this stage, it is a consistent story. If AT&T is willing to pay a commission to Apple, it might as well improve the attractiveness of its own offer to direct customers.

ATR is also predicting that Apple will go with Vodafone as its first iPhone partner outside the US. This would have merit as Vodafone is the world's largest mobile network company, with interests in over 60 countries and around 200 million customers.