O2 UK today announced that it is offering the 8GB iPhone handset for free on its £44.05 sterling and £73.41 sterling monthly tariffs, while the 16GB model is also free on the £73.41 sterling tariff (this does not, as of yet, affect the current iPhone tariffs in Ireland).
This new announcement has further fuelled rumours that a brand-new iPhone model is on the way, as this is seen as a possible move by O2 to shift existing stock.
Apple rumour sites, including MacRumors.com, have already been talking about the possibility of an iPhone nano that could possibly be unveiled in June 2009.
More evidence pointing towards the likelihood of a new iPhone model this year is hidden in the code of the latest iPhone OS 3.0.
Ars Technica reports references in a file named /System/Library/AppleUSBDevice/USBDeviceConfiguration.plist to devices named iPhone2,1, iPod 2,1, iPhone3,1; iPod3,1; iFPGA; and iProd0,1.
Irish iPhone apps developer Steven Troughton-Smith said that “iFPGA is a hardware testing device apple use internally” but that iPhone 2,1 and iPod 2,2 are possible references to upcoming new devices, while “there are also references to the generation after that (ie those in 2010), iPhone 3,1 and iPod 3,1.”
There is no doubt that Apple will refresh the current iPhone handset at some point, but could the iPhone 3.1 be an iPhone nano or even something else?
By Marie Boran
