Updated: The 3G iPhone rumour round-up

03/06/08 – with only six days to go, you’d think we were contemplating some sort of imminent messianic return instead of, gasp, just a new phone. Still, we feel duty bound to report the latest scuttlebutt.

According to old favourite The Times, we’re looking at a seemingly crazy £100 price for the new iPhone next week that will help Apple get to the 10 million mark by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the Cult of Mac website authoritatively claims that iPhone 2.0 will be a very precise 22 per cent thinner than the old model and will come with twice the memory.

Of course, the reality is that no one, bar S. Jobs Esq and his allies, knows what’s happening next week, so keep that dose of salt at the ready.

24/04/2008 - the 3G iPhone internet rumour mill continues to turn (at least until somebody finally gets a solid glimpse of Apple's second generation handset). Here's what people are saying so far:

Anonymous sources have apparently been talking to The Times, suggesting that Apple's next iPhone will be "radically different". But how different? A Sidekick-esque flip phone? A clever dual-screen clamshell? A slider with a Qwerty keyboard? What about a smaller iPhone nano or an iPhone mini?

Other 3G iPhone rumours that have been circulating include: a combined video/photo camera (with increased camera resolution, maybe 5MP?); video conferencing functionality; a built-in GPS module; and a boost in the onboard memory to 32GB.

Digg head-honcho Kevin Rose has also suggested that the 3G iPhone will support two-way video iChat with dual cameras (one on the front, one on the back).

Why change the iPhone?

Anything's possible. But why make cosmetic changes to the iPhone at all? Admittedly, the 2G model hasn't sold as well in Europe as it has done in the US. Analysts expect losses to be "significant" and £100 price slashes in the UK (until 1 June) are designed to shift old inventory before the 3G model hits.

But the iPhone has arguably re-invigorated a mobile market that had been coasting along, half-heartedly tempting customers with chassis tweaks and small-time tech innovations. The multi-touch UI on the iPhone alone makes every other mobile phone you've ever used feel clunky in comparison. Where's the elegance in adding a keyboard? Isn't that something that Microsoft would do?

Whatever the 3G iPhone looks like, the industry squealers chit-chatting to The Times claim that 200,000 new iPhones have been ordered by Apple for the end of May, with another two million pencilled in for June.

Apple needs the iPhone to be a success. In its latest financial figures, iPod numbers are up just 1 per cent, suggesting that almost everyone who wants an iPod may already have one. The iPhone offers a converged option - why carry your iPod and a phone when you can have one device that does both?

Unlocked iPhones a-plenty

Crucial to selling more iPhones is extending their availability to consumers - a large number of the 1.7 million phones already sold in the US are unlocked and Apple's firmware updates are typically hacked/jailbroken within days of going live. So there are also suggestions that Apple could break with its current one territory/one preferred carrier approach when it launches the 3G iPhone in June.

In fact, the Washington Post reports that Apple could abandon revenue sharing deals in favour of a higher price for the iPhone, which the carriers would then subsidise. The information comes from Italian heavyweight paper La Repubblica.