The Boatiflage Puzzle Ethics

The iPhone Jigsaw Puzzle

January 14th, 2007 at 05:59pm

The iPhone started off as an exciting announcement by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, but has since turned into a rather large mess.

When Apple announced the iPhone, many people started to wonder what deals they had struck to use the “iPhone” name, and it soon became clear that Apple hadn’t finalised any agreements with Cisco over the use of the name, and Cisco were quick to sue them for trademark infringement.

Also part of Jobs’ announcement was that the iPhone runs Apple’s Mac OS X operating system, this led to a lot of speculation about whether or not third party applications would be allowed on the iPhone. Steve Jobs announced that third party applications would not be allowed on the iPhone, apparently for stability reasons, which seems just a tad odd for something running what appears to be a modified version of OS X.

Cisco then tried to clarify their lawsuit, apparently they wanted to have Cisco products and the iPhone interoperate, but just as they were making the clarification, their trademark started to look a bit shaky.

A few days later an investigation revealed that Cisco may have already lost the rights to the iPhone trademark due to not using it.

Things were starting to look up for Apple, until the processor used in the iPhone came to light…a Samsung ARM core processor. Mac OS X is based on an open source BSD UNIX variant named “Darwin”, but it only runs on Intel x86 and IBM PowerPC platforms, and if Apple were to write a version for Samsung ARM, they would have to release the source code, which they haven’t done, and according to a Cingular Mobile rep, they won’t be doing. So in essence, it’s not running Darwin, and therefore not running OS X. Apple can call it OS X, but it’s not even remotely related to the OS X you would find on a “normal” computer.

With all of the kerfuffle so far, is it any wonder that Apple didn’t make any other big announcements (Apple TV isn’t a particular big or expected announcement)…they would have been lost in the iPhone Jigsaw Puzzle.

Samuel

Entry Filed under: IT News

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2 Comments

  • 1. HoinK  |  January 14th, 2007 at 6:15 pm

    Nice article Samuel! A very interesting read.

    I work for a local newspaper in the ACT, you want to meet up at the Civic some time? Perhaps you should add me to msn so we can discuss the finer details.

  • 2. Samuel  |  January 14th, 2007 at 6:41 pm

    OK HoinK, I’ve added you to my MSN account. Smoothwallsamuel@gmail.com

    I’m glad you liked the article.


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