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By silicon.com, 19 December 2006 16:00

Is Cisco, by allowing its Linksys subsidiary to move ahead with a brand of VoIP handsets branded as 'iPhone', playing with fire? And by fire, we mean the legal eagles over at Apple.

It's one of the questions that has been asked since the company announced its plans yesterday, seemingly treading on the toes of its Silicon Valley neighbour, a pioneer in personal computing and more recently digital music.

As any Apple follower would know, that company has long been rumoured to be about to bring out a mobile phone handset, with bookies stopping taking bets on it being called the iPhone. After all, it's done the iPod, iMac, iTunes, iChat and more.

The key word here is rumour. As Apple itself told this publication: "At the moment [the iPhone] is a non-existent product for us."

It could be tricky to enforce rights for something that isn't concrete. Apple has in the past applied for the 'iPhone' trademark, only guess who holds that trademark now? That's right - Cisco.

But what if the two companies do come to an agreement that sees the Linksys range go by a different name? Where would that leave things?

The cynics among us might say that Apple ends up with the brand for its device - assuming it launches in 2007 - that it always wanted.

And Cisco? Cisco ends up with a Linksys unit that is now much better known. Readers of this publication know the type of wares Cisco sells. They may even know a thing or two about Linksys' lower-end networking kit. But millions of consumers and small businesses out there, all potential Linksys customers, don't all know that company.

Throw in a 'spat' with a consumer heavyweight such as Apple and - bingo - that can change almost overnight.

Just a theory.