Computers and Technology

The travel and leisure domain is one of the most fast pasted business environments work in. It needs to be as the competition is fierce and customers are expecting every higher levels or service. A lot of companies are quickly finding that their practices are outdated and their potentially customers are going else ware because they are being reached quicker and other companies have more efficient methods of letting their customers know what is going on during every step of their booking. Below we examine 3 of the latest communication methods that more travel companies are choosing to utilise

Email. You could argue that email has been around for quite a while now and is not a new form of communication. Yet there are still travel companies who do not use it to its full potential and instead still do most of their communication via phone or post. Those companies who have embraced this technology, such as Oceania Cruises, are using it to attract customers via newsletters etc, arrange travel bookings, deal with customer enquiries instantly, provide up to date information to customers on their booking and send out billing info to name a few.

Booking online. I recent years there have been lots of companies in the travel inductsy who have realied just how beneficial it is to have an online booking system that does not rely on back and forth emails and phone calls. People tend to want things quicker, cheaper and more simple these days and the newest online systems are giving the people what they want. Obviously this is used alongside other communication methods but companies who do not adopt this, especially in the luxury cruises business, will soon struggle

Social media. You must of had your head in the sand if you’ve not caught all the talk about how great (or how bad) social media can be for businesses. However, companies that are at the top of their game or willing to keep an open mind, much like Oberoi Nile Cruises, are reaping the rewards by communicating with potential customers on their own level and in an informal setting. Something that has got the travel industry excited at the moment is Twitter, which is a platform that allows companies to communicate with a wide spectrum of people and keep them up to date with developments and offers

Computers and Technology Business, communications, email, Phone, social media

Today’s announcement from Cisco regarding our suit with Apple over our iPhone trademark has spurred a lot of interesting questions.Importantly, this is not to rival Apple’s innovation, design, or their phone innovation. It is not a suit about money or royalties. This is a suit about trademark infringement.

Cisco owns the iPhone trademark. We have since 2000, when we bought a company called Infogear Technology, which had developed a product that combined web access and telephone.  Infogear’s registrations for the mark date to 1996, before iMacs and iPods were even glimmers in Apple’s eye.  We have been shipping new, updated iPhone products since last spring, and had a formal launch late last year. Apple knows this; they approached us about the iPhone trademark as far back as 2001, and have approached us several times over the past year.

Negotiations with Apple has been going on for weeks, discussing how the two companies would make use of the iPhone trademark to boost sales in both comoanies.  We genuinely believed that we were going to be able to reach an agreement and Apple’s communications with us suggested they supported that goal. We negotiated in good faith with every intention to reach a reasonable agreement with Apple by which we would share the iPhone brand.

So, I was surprised and disappointed when Apple decided to go ahead and announce their new product with our trademarked name without reaching an agreement. It was essentially the equivalent of “we’re too busy.”  Despite being very close to an agreement, we had no substantive communication from Apple after 8pm Monday, including after their launch, when we made clear we expected closure.  What were the issues at the table that kept us from an agreement? Was Money the issue? No. Was it a royalty on every Apple phone? No. Was it an exchange for Cisco products or services? No.

Fundamentally we wanted an open approach. We hoped our products could interoperate in the future. In our view, the network provides the basis to make this happen—it provides the foundation of innovation that allows converged devices to deliver the services that consumers want.  Our goal was to take that to the next level by facilitating collaboration with Apple.  And we wanted to make sure to differentiate the brands in a way that could work for both companies and not confuse people, since our products combine both web access and voice telephony. That’s it. Openness and clarity. 

At MacWorld, Apple discussed the patents pending on their new phone technology. They clearly seem to value intellectual property.  If the tables were turned, do you think Apple would allow someone to blatantly infringe on their rights? How would Apple react if someone launched a product called iPod but claimed it was ok to use the name because it used a different video format? Would that be ok?  We know the answer – Apple is a very aggressive enforcer of their trademark rights. And that needs to be a two-way street.

This lawsuit is about Cisco’s obligation to protect its trademark in the face of a willful violation.  Our goal was collaboration.  The action we have taken today is about not using people’s property without permission.

Computers and Technology apple, Cisco, iphone, Mobile, Phone, VIOP