Monday, May 12,2008 @ 9:20am
TIM exec: Italian deal means 3G iPhone, and soon
The first iPhones available to Italians will indeed be 3G models, an executive for carrier Telecom Italia is said to have confirmed. Although the company announced that it would carry the iPhone last week, at the time it would only say that it had "signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone in Italy within the year." Executive VP Luigi Licciardi revealed the existence of the 3G phone between sessions at the International Electronics Forum in Dubai.
The executive further added that the 3G iPhone will be available in June, the first official admission that Apple should be revealing the device in the near future. It is widely believed by analysts that the 3G iPhone will be announced at June's WWDC conference, scheduled for the 9th to the 13th in San Francisco.
Vodafone, which will be carrying the iPhone in Italy and several other countries, meanwhile refuses to confirm or deny whether its model will be 3G. "It is an iPhone device," a spokesperson is quoted as saying.