The launch by Apple of a combined iPod and mobile phone device was mired in confusion today over whether the company has the right to use the iPhone name it has adopted.

The use of the name was brought into question after Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, launched the long-anticipated handset at the company's MacWorld event in San Francisco on Tuesday.

However, Cisco, the IT giant, owns the rights to "iPhone" and launched an internet telephone product under the brand three weeks ago through its Linksys division. Some commentators speculated that Apple would opt for the PodPhone name to avoid a conflict with Cisco.

Speaking to The Times on Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Charlie Giancarlo, Cisco's head of development, who also runs Linksys, said that the group had rebuffed several approaches from Apple, which had offered to buy the rights to the iPhone name.

Mr Giancarlo said: "The iPhone mark has been ours since 1996. Apple did ask if they could buy it. We didn't want to part from it."

Cisco confirmed yesterday that Apple had repeatedly asked for permission over several years to use the iPhone trademark. It added that it had presented Apple lawyers with the final terms of an agreement the night before Mr Jobs's MacWorld presentation, but would not provide details of the proposed deal.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Cisco said: "It is our belief that with their announcement today, Apple intends to agree to the final documents and public statement that were distributed to them last night, and that addressed a few remaining items."

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice-president for worldwide marketing, would not comment on whether the company had agreed or would agree with Cisco on usage of the name.

"There are a number of companies that have used iPhone, but this is the first use in a cellular phone," he told AFX news agency. "We feel fine using it as a cellphone name."

An Apple spokesman in London was not available for comment this morning.

Separately, the company has renamed a device that streams digital content such as video and music from PCs to televisions. It had been developed under the codename iTV. The release version will be called AppleTV.

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