Apple iPhone may be released as soon as January

Analysts on Wall Street believe the device is heading for completion

17 October 2006 15:15 GMT / By Amber Maitland

The Apple rumour mill has let the wireless iPod topic drop for a bit in order concentrate on the anticipated iPhone mobile.

According to a report by Prudential Equity Group analyst Jesse Tortora, Apple will launch not just one, but two mobile phones a soon as January. One will be a slim mobile based on the iPod, while the other will be a smartphone; one will also include Wi-Fi.

Another analysts, Shaw Wu, who works for American Technology Research, is confident enough to tell investors that the iPhone will be available in three colours. He also says that it's moved from “concept to prototype, and recently has progressed to near completion as a production unit”.

Indications that this may be correct include the fact that Apple filed a trademark dated 15 September in an Asian trademark office for the iPhone - “handheld and mobile digital electronic devices for the sending and receiving of telephone calls, faxes, electronic mail, and other digital data; MP3 and other digital format audio players”.

The iPhone also has a secondary classification as a “stand alone video game machine”, which may have something to do with the games recently available on iTunes for the iPod.