RUMOR: Leaked info points to unlocked, next-gen Apple iPhone coming to Australia last week of June
Wednesday, April 09, 2008 - 09:09 AM EST"Rumours have been rampant for months since the launch of the iPhone in the USA back mid-2007 regarding Australia's chance to taste the iPhone. There have been many dates and leaks of false info, so much so that some people even think Australia is never going to get it. Today however, Apple have been informing resellers of their iPhone strategy for Australia," MacTalk reports.
Resellers have been informed of the following things:
• Last week of June release
• More than 1 carrier
• No contract lock in
• Current resellers will be able to sell iPhones
Much more here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers "bstoned" and "Joel" for the heads up.]
Jude Willis blogs for ZDNet, "Seven large Apple resellers in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra contacted by ZDNet.com.au, said they have heard nothing from Apple about an Australian release."
Willis reports, "David McMahon, CEO of Fone Zone, parent company of massive Apple reseller network Next Byte, says he is still in the dark. 'Others may well have been told something but I've heard nothing,' he said. 'These things are kept very secret,' said a sales manager at a Mac1 store. 'We never get told anything. The first thing we do in the morning is check the Apple Web site to make sure nothing new has been released.'"
"'Absolutely not,' said another in Melbourne, who said that new Apple products tend to arrive wrapped in black plastic to stop information leaks," Willis reports. "'We haven't been told a thing.'"
More in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Very interesting rumor! As always, consider this a rumor until Apple officially announces. With that established, let's take it a step further: What if Apple's contract with AT&T in the U.S. and with their other carrier contracts in the U.K., Germany, etc. are written in such a way as to cover only the original iPhone, so that the next-gen, possibly 3.5G, iPhone will be made available on multiple carriers in countries around the world?
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