iPhone 5 Release Date Will Not be in 2011 for T-Mobile Customers
Contradicting earlier rumors, T-Mobile will not be getting the iPhone 5 this year, according to a new report.
A statement from the carrier’s chief marketing officer, Cole Brodman, through a leaked internal document obtained by the TmoNews blog, revealed T-Mobile would not be getting Apple’s new device in 2011.
"We are not going to get the iPhone 5 this year," CMO Cole Brodman is quoted as saying in a recent public meeting at a T-Mobile field service center, according to the blog.
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Reportedly, Brodman told employees there would be two other new smartphones coming to the carrier instead of iPhone 5.
Other information suggests that Apple will also release a line of lower-cost iPhones, modeled after the existing iPhone. Rumors indicate that Apple may soon launch iPhone 4S, another alternative for the iPhone 4, and T-Mobile could have a new iPhone version for the holiday season.
If the Statement about T-Mobile not receiving the iPhone in 2011 is confirmed, the company may be the only U.S. carrier not to offer the iPhone 5 at launch. Analysts suggest that Sprint as well as AT&T and Verizon will offer the iPhone with unlimited data-service plans.
It is suggested that the iPhone 5 launch could be delayed if the proposed AT&T-T-Mobile merger happens. But since iPhone 4 is selling well on AT&T`s network, iPhone 5 is expected to come as well.
Apple has been testing out the iPhone on T-Mobile’s network with prototype devices, according to the reports.
Meanwhile, Sprint is preparing to sell the iPhone 5 and hopes to draw consumer attention as it is the last major U.S. carrier to offer Apple’s iPhone. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimated that giving the company the iPhone would boost the device`s overall sales by 6 million units.
T-Mobile iPhone 5 may not be coming this year according to Brodman, but the company has yet to confirm his statement.
