While Apple has already technically released headphones of its own, by way of the Beats brand, a new trademark could suggest the company’s looking to launch its own branded set at some point in the future.
According to a report published recently by MacRumors, a series of trademark filings in a variety of countries suggests that Apple is vying to protect the name “AirPods,” ahead of a product launch. However, the report also indicates that these filings are not directly linked to Apple, even if they do follow in Apple’s recent history of working to get a trademark.
As far as the filings go, in the United States a company known as Entertainment in Flight, LLC, filed for the AirPod trademark on September 22 of this year. Entertainment in Flight is a firm based out of Delaware. What’s more, the LLC was actually created in early September, and, up until now, there hasn’t been any other business operations than the trademark filing.
While the publication is unable to get any links between Apple and these other shell companies, or even the trademark itself, there is some strong indicators –including Apple’s methodology in protecting its planned trademarks from widespread visibility– that leads the publication to believing this is indeed Apple trying to keep AirPods secure for a future product.
Just what that product is remains unknown, however there may be details within the filings that could shed some light on that. As it stands right now, Apple has “EarPods” as the brand name for its in-ear headphones, which come bundled in the box with its iPhone lineup. It could stand to reason that “AirPods” would follow the same idea as the current line of headphones, but be a wireless version:
“The trademark filing in International Class 9 includes mention of audio accessories, earphones, microphones, wireless communication devices, and similar types of products, and with Apple already calling its existing line of earphones “EarPods” it seems reasonable to speculate the “AirPods” name could be intended for a wireless version of the company’s earphones.”
It’s certainly an interesting look at what Apple could be planning. Apple already has sales in headphones thanks to Beats, but releasing AirPods might not step on that too much. Especially if, like the EarPods, they’re relatively simple options.
[via MacRumors]
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