Barron's Tiernan Ray reports in an exclusive report that Apple could be poised to release its own brand of mobile phone before the year is out.
Speculation about an Apple phone is several years old, but analysts say the process is finally moving forward. Apple is working on "an iPod with phone functions" and could end up using Hon Hai Precision, a Tiawanese contract electronics manufacturer, to help them make the phone, says Johnny Chan, a J.P. Morgan analyst based in Hong Kong. Hon Hai has a big role in making the iPod nano. But Apple still hasn't decided whether to give the contract for what's being referred to as an "iPhone" to Hon Hai or to another manufacturer, says Ellen Tseng, a Morgan Stanley analyst in Taipei. One analyst in Taipei who declined to be identified said Taiwan Green Point Enterprises, which makes plastic cases for the iPod, is in talks with Apple for a role in the phone. "The chatter about the product is all over the food chain," says Bill Shope, Chan's colleague in New York who follows Apple. He believes Apple will likely introduce a cellphone by the fourth quarter of this year.
It was just last week that Piper Jaffary claimed that they felt there was a 75% chance that Apple would release such a device within the next 12 months.
Finally it should be noted that Apple has owned for a very long period of time the domain iPhone.org and has trademarked the term iPhone in Australia and the UK.