You may be wondering if there is any such thing as the iPod phone. Well when Apple developed the iPhone they essentially took the technology and stylish design used in their iPod range and added phone technology to it. The iPhone effectively combines the mobile phone with a widescreen iPod and an Internet device.

The iPhone is almost identical to the iPod Touch and you will find that applications and devices designed to work with one will generally work with the other. The iPhone can play music and video content in exactly the same way as the iPod range. It supports the same apps and games as the iPod Touch and it will usually work with the same docking technology. It also charges and gets updated in the same way. You can sync the iPhone using iTunes just as you would for the iPod.

The iPhone was released in 2007 and Apple has sold well over 20 million of them since then. The device took a long time to develop and only came about after a failed joint project with Motorola which yielded the Motorola ROKR E1. After that Apple decided to go it alone and their central idea was to focus on a touch screen as the centrepiece of the device.

The technology within the iPhone is much the same as that used in the iPod range. The operating system is exactly the same as the operating system used in the iPod Touch. There were complaints from LG when the iPhone was released that Apple had copied their LG Prada design and indeed the two devices are very similar in terms of basic specifications.

When it came to selecting the name iPhone rather than iPod Phone it is easy to see that iPhone just sounds more appealing. The choice wasn’t as straightforward as it seems because a product had already been released in the 90’s with the name iPhone. A company called Infogear created an internet phone for use with landlines and they filed for the trademark back in 1993. They were later acquired by Cisco Systems and Apple entered negotiations to obtain permission to use the name.

Apple applied for a number of trademarks in various countries but the majority of their claims are still pending. There are still other companies releasing products which carry the same name. However the Apple iPhone is by far the most popular and famous so it seems unlikely to harm their brand.

In addition to the actual iPhone device, which is effectively an iPod phone, there was an interesting article recently published on the BBC website. It discusses a freeware application which uses Wi-Fi in order to convert the iPod Touch into a virtual mobile phone. The application is called Truphone and they offer the same functionality for the existing iPhone. It potentially saves you money on calls because you can use instant messaging or Skype services to other users on the same service for free. The only real catch is that you need to have decent wireless Internet access.

The hybrid iPod phone released as the iPhone has been tremendously successful and Apple are planning to release a new generation in the near future. According to the rumours they will be adding more functionality and it looks set to become ever more popular.