iPhone nano
As with most Apple rumours, this one feels like it's been doing the rounds forever, but Reuters is at least claiming multiple sources for it. It's looking increasingly likely that Apple will produce an 8GB version of the iPhone 4, which will probably be unveiled at the same time as the iPhone 5, which is expected to be launched towards the end of September.
Rumour consensus aside, such a move would hardly come as a surprise seeing as Apple did just the same last year - offering an 8GB iPhone 3GS when it launched the iPhone 4. What might be interesting, however, is if Apple decides to really drop the price on this iPhone nano.
Positioning the iPad at an aggressive price-point has totally screwed things up for all would-be tablet competitors and Apple has made it clear it doesn't want any. Jobs and co must have been pissing themselves laughing at the HP announcement last week, and the subsequent bargain-hunting frenzy has served as a reminder that a bit (alright, a lot) of price-cutting can really shake things up.
The iPhone has a lot of momentum, but with that comes pressure to maintain it. What better way to stick it to the competition and gain share in poorer countries than to produce a $200 iPhone? The only issue with that is the potential for such a product to cannibalize sales of the iPhone 5.
Elsewhere TechCrunch has been doing well on the Apple front. One of its sources reckons the iPhone 5 will come with both CDMA and GSM mobile network capability, which is of greater importance in the US than it is here. Meanwhile it also recently spotted that Apple is trying to dissuade developers from using the unique device ID of iPhones to track users, which could hamstring a lot of location-dependent apps.
