Cisco comments on iPhone ‘interoperability’

Following an agreement earlier this year to share the iPhone brand name, Apple and Cisco are currently exploring ways to make the iPhone work with Cisco’s business and consumer equipment. “We’re optimistic, but it’s still early,” Cisco Chief Development Officer Charlie Giancarlo said. Ways in which the two companies’ products can work together “are now being investigated by both technical teams.” Giancarlo said Cisco wants the iPhone to work with its corporate phone systems, allowing users to get the same services, such as instant messaging and teleconferencing, on their Cisco desk phones and iPhones. In a statement in February, Apple only said that the companies would “explore opportunities for interoperability.”