3G iPhone rumours return

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 21 November 2007 02:16

Your IT - Mobility

After a few quiet months, the rumour mill has turned back to the question of the much-anticipated 3G iPhone.

SevenClick claims to have spoken to "one of the main managers of [Spanish carrier] Telefonica".

According to the report, Telefonica expects to release a 3G iPhone in May 2008, although an agreement with Apple has yet to be reached.

Other stories, apparently originating at Morse.it, say that by March or April, Vodafone will be the 3G iPhone carrier for all the European countries where it operates. Vodafone has subsidiaries in Albania, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, and the UK.

Some commentators suggest Vodafone's iPhone-related suit against T-Mobile in Germany works against this rumour, but we're not so sure: perhaps Vodafone is keen to establish whether German courts will uphold the tying of handsets and service plans before it finalises its deal with Apple.

According to Morse.it, the 'exclusive' iPhone deals in the UK, Germany and France only relate to the EDGE-based model, leaving Apple to do a deal with another competing carrier for the 3G iPhone.

Apple has shown a tendency to make iPhone announcements well ahead of time, so if these rumours have any foundation we would expect the 3G iPhone to be previewed at January's Macworld Expo.