UPDATE: Apple to release two iPhone models, one with WiFi
Digital Journal — According to a story posted on Apple Insider, Apple has filed for a trademark on the term iPhone. Yep, the rumoured iPod cellphone could be the newest addition to the Apple product lineup.
The highly anticipated iPod cellphone which has been the subject of countless blog sites (see where the rumour started) was filed last month with a Far Eastern trademark office.
As Apple Insider reports, the September 15th patent filing describes the iPhone as “handheld and mobile digital electronic devices for the sending and receiving of telephone calls, faxes, electronic mail, and other digital data; MP3 and other digital format audio players.”
It also broadly described the unit as “electronic handheld units for the wireless receipt and/or transmission of data that enable the user to keep track of or manage personal information.”
In a BlackBerry-type description, the iPhone could include “software for the redirection of messages, Internet e-mail, and/or other data to one or more electronic handheld devices from a data store on or associated with a personal computer or a server; and software for the synchronization of data between a remote station or device and a fixed or remote station or device.”
And Apple Insider notes Apple even describes its secondary use as a “stand alone video game machine” which implies it could be similar to Apple’s new generation of video iPods that includes arcade games.
Apple apparently filed a similar request in a country off the coast of South America in March, but rumours date back as far as 1999 when Apple registered the domain iPhone.org.
Shaw Wu of American Technology Research told Apple Insider the iPhone will be released in three colours in a nano-like, candy-bar shape.
If the rumours are true (which Digital Journal puts its money on), other manufacturers better watch out. As Wu points out: Even if Apple only gains a one per cent share in the worldwide cellphone market, it could earn the iPod-maker another $2 billion (US) per year in revenue (assuming the phone sells for $200).
Motorola, Nokia and the other players better start planning, because the Razr is going to be the last thing in people’s minds when this baby hits the market.
