Along with speculation that Verizon may sell the new iPhone expected to be announced at next month’s WWDC, comes rumors of the most tenuous nature that Sprint might also be part of Apple’s widening use of American carriers. Adding the iPhone to its stable of cell phones would certainly boost Sprint’s stature, but is it more than just chatter? Now comes “rumblings” that Sprint may have an iPhone ready later this year.
This is where readers should put their trays in the upright position and obey the flashing “rumor alert” signs.
Earlier this month, blogger James Kendrick wrote that he’d heard the rumor about Sprint, but quickly put it in the “totally unlikely to come true” department. Where did he get the tip? An unidentified Sprint employee.
Around a week later, MacRumors hears “similiar rumblings” that Sprint would have the iPhone this summer. That came from another Sprint employee. Add similar talk from TechUpdate, which quotes an e-mail from an anonymous Pennsylvania Best Buy employee. The worker claims the iPhone will be coming to Sprint “in a week or two.”
The only on-the-record comment is an oblique reference to the iPhone made by Sprint’s Chief Financial Officer, Robert Brust. Asked whether Sprint would sell the iPhone, Brust answered: “We’d love to have it.”
That comment, plus the news that AT&T will nearly double its iPhone early termination fee to $325 from $175 has put the reality distortion field on high.
[via 9to5Mac, jkontherun, MacRumors, and TechUpdate]
