OpenSky, the wireless internet access start-up 70% backed by Palm Computing and 30% Aether Technologies, has been forced to change its name to OmniSky because another company beat it off the mark to registering the name, ComputerWire has learned. OpenSky refused to tell us who the company was.
OpenSky has fallen into the same trap as Cabletron did in renaming Spectrum, its network management business in September. Cabletron was all set to launch Netuitive at Network + Interop and at the last minute discovered the name had already been taken. OpenSky said that with the huge numbers of internet start- ups, the Patent and Trademark Office is inundated with name submissions and during the course of a day, cannot see which names have been registered at any one point in time.
No-one has ever heard of OpenSky, said Gerry Purdy, analyst with Insight Marketing, so they have no branding issue to cope with. He added that the company’s main problem will be explaining why it needs to offer these services in the first place when the Palm VII platform already offers wireless services via its web-clipping technology. This enables users of the Palm VII to receive email, news, stock quotes and sports updates from the web, which is precisely what OpenSky is proposing. The company will be renamed on November 15 at Comdex, in Las Vegas.
