Several newly registered iPhone icon designs from Apple have surfaced in Europe that are shown here on your right. The designs generically symbolize a road, a flame, a target, a stop watch and a circle. The one representing the symbol of a road may in fact relate to an upcoming in-vehicle navigation system from Apple that surfaced in a patent this past March. The new navigational system icon would have to be accompanied by an upgraded iPhone that integrates a series of new sensory capabilities such as an infrared sensor, several biometric sensors and others, according to the patent. The target icon my also relate to a GPS mapping target service. Yet the most mysterious symbol in this group would have to be the one represented by a flame. This unique symbol could very well represent some kind of new AT&T internet PowerBoost feature like one being offered by Shaw in Western Canada. That would be a very interesting development, though one that is highly speculative at this point in time.

Apple credits Imran Chaudhri as the designer of the new series of iPhone and/or iPod touch icons published last week in Europe.

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Jack Purcher, MacNN Senior Patent Editor