MyView: Riding the “i-wave”
I know. Bad title choice. Unless you are up to date on the latest tech news I probably lost you with this one. But don’t go, read on. It’s been months since the rumors of an Apple iPhone surfaced the blogosphere; and as time went by it became more and more real.
Today it has been announced, the iPhone is being released tonight (Dec18′06). Except…Apple isn’t the manufacturer…(ripping sound)…Yes, indeed you read correctly; Cisco is the one launching this long awaited (branded) phone.
That’s the news. Now my rant.
I am both weirded out and…I have to admit it a bit repulsed by this. I won’t call any bad shots on the phone itself since I haven’t tried it out (and probably won’t); but I most definitely will discuss the cheap shot Cisco is calling by naming their product the “iPhone”. Have they been under a rock for the past year? Have they no regard for what’s going on on tech blogs? It’s puzzling, really.
I immediately come up with two mind choices.
1) They seriously had no idea that there were rumors of an Apple iPhone (using the traditional “i”, Apple has been using for all of their products, hello iPod).
2) They decided to ride on Apple’s brand wave. Though this is totally legal I’m sure; do you really want to associate yourself with such a huge company in this undeserved manner? Are they thinking consumers will be tricked into buying a product they thought was another one? Couldn’t they come up with any other naming choices that could actually differentiate themselves from the rest of the market (which will soon enough be ridden with web-phones)?
Breathe In…Breathe Out…
I’m not posting this to judge Cisco’s decisions, I’m posting this because I think they had a great opportunity on their hands, and they misused it. They are launching the first big-brand web phone to the market, did they had to get all tangled up in this controversy just for the sake of riding someone else’s wave?
I guess not all companies are willing to take the risk of being innovative, creative, and market leaders. Go ahead and be creative,…if you have the will, make the way.
Source: BusinessWeek
Good luck anyway.
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POSTED IN: advertising, apple, my-view, rumor
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