Here is a bit of financial trivia for you. Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), released its iPhone on Monday, December 18, 2006, which was a phone that connects to a home wireless network for making phone calls through the Internet using the Skype service. Skype was originally owned by eBay Inc. (EBAY)at the time and is now owned by Microsoft (MSFT).
It had been anticipated that Apple Computer Corp. (AAPL) would be using the iPhone name back then, but it had been registered by Cisco in 2000. The iPhone trademark is now owned by Apple.
More info about the “first” iPhone release can be found here, an article from bizjournals back in 2006.