“T-Mobile has reportedly begun selling its own branded ‘Charge & Sync USB Cable’ licensed for Apple’s iPhone, fueling speculation that the handset could soon become available on the American carrier,” Katie Marsal reports for AppleInsider.
“A photo of the product, also licensed for use with Apple’s line of iPods, was provided by an anonymous source to Engadget on Friday. The source indicated that T-Mobile’s corporate stores in the U.S. will now carry the cables, leading to speculation that their stocking could be in preparation for an iPhone launch,” Marsal reports. “Since the device debuted in 2007, the iPhone has been exclusive to AT&T in the U.S.”
Marsal reports, “The USB cable could also be seen as evidence that T-Mobile will begin selling the iPad.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Lava_Head_UK” for the heads up.]
Does anyone else get the feeling that Steve Jobs enjoys dicking with all of us?
Just paranoid weirdos like you do, Midwest.
I bought an iPad sync and charge cable from China inc. shipping for $1.99. It works too.
http://stores.ebay.com/xiaomei886809
This would be great, because ATT & T-Mobile share the same GSM network. They should have been carrying Apple from the start, theoretically. With the iPhone on Verizon, ATT and T-Mobile, Sprint would be the next logical step. Since Verizon and Sprint both run CDMA networks, only one tweakable (CDMA) phone should be needed.
More scurrilous iPhone rumors. Why not go with the easiest explanation that makes sense — that, if Verizon can sell wi-fi services for the iPad, why can’t T-Mobile?
This is a non-news item. T-Mobile has been officially unlocking iPhones and supporting iPhones on their network since 2007. This cable is probably just to satisfy demand of their existing customers who use the iPhone.
@Midwest– Huh?
@ron — Okay. Doesn’t have a lot to do with point of story.
@orandy — You should, by now, know the history of iPhone on ATT and its exclusivity.
@Paul Johnson — Absolutely, but with the eventual end of ATT exclusivity (which seems imminent), T-Mobile will probably be able to sell iPhones too.
@MacBill — I don’t doubt that T-Mobile has provided service for unlocked iPhones, but I find it hard to believe that T-Mobile has been “officially unlocking iPhones”, at least in the United States. ATT and Apple would have been all over that. Have you got a link to at T-Mobile web page offering unlocked iPhones for sale?
ron: is that the same discount you got on your brain?
@Spark
Tell us something we don’t already know…”know it all.”
Just listen while us smart people speculate on a “post” ATT exclusivity world!
Current iPhones wouldn’t work all that well on T-Mobile without some changes to the radio by Apple. As is rather common knowledge, T-Mobile operates their HSPA+ 3G network on 1700/2100MHz frequency, while AT&T’s HSPA service is on 850/1900MHz. Since the iPhone only supports 850/1900MHz for HSPA, there would be no 3G data on T-Mobile.
All four radio frequencies for GSM and GPRS/EDGE are supported, though, so iPhone could work with 2G data, but all that 3G speed and goodness would be lost.
In other words, Apple would have to “tweak” the iPhone for T-Mobile almost as much as they would for Verizon/Sprint (i.e. CDMA carriers).
Doesn’t T-Mobile carry the iPhone in Europe? Seems they’d have to pay the licensing for the cable for that.
MAN OH MAN I’M SICK AND TIRED OF BEING TEASED AROUND.
C’mon Apple & T-Mobile, get you game on and at least confirm to Us that iPhone will be available for T-Mobile USA.. It’s all I want to know and what I’m waiting for. You don’t even need to leak out details if it will be an updated device, just confirm if it will come, PLEASE!!!!!
Despite the great Coverage Verizon has I will not go to it, neither would I look forward to switching to AT&T. With the great Service and rates I get from T-Mobile, it’s hard for me to break out.
As much as I’d like to think this means that T-Mobile will soon be carrying the iPhone. I think it’s just T-Mobile taking the opportunity to provide cables for it’s jailbroke and unlocked iPhone customers. There’s a lot of profit in cables.
@Predrag
I don’t claim to understand radio frequencies but below is the out of the box frequencies for the iPhone 4 directly from the tech specs on Apple’s site. Why can’t it work without tweaking at 2100?
UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only)
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR wireless technology
@ Paul Johnson : Perfect.
Steve, is this real? Have you been listening to old silverhawk? I’m ready to buy on T-Mobile!
My aunt’s neighbor’s gardener knows a guy at the place where he gets coffee in the morning, who’s son is dating a girl who’s father says T mobile is getting the iPhone soon, so it must be true!
Or evidence that they will be selling a cable.