Sure, you've heard the Verizon iPhone rumor a million times since 2007, but something we hear of slightly less often is a rumor pertaining to a T-Mobile iPhone. Cult of Mac has brought us just that, however, stating that they have been told by a "highly placed source" that a T-Mobile iPhone is "very close" to becoming a reality. The, unsurprisingly, unnamed source at T-Mobile said that the carrier is currently in talks with Apple and that it is "80 percent likely" that a T-Mobile iPhone will see the light of day. Just as with the Verizon iPhone rumors that we hear every other 10 minutes, though, keep in mind that this is all firmly planted in the "Rumor" category and that you should take this news with the biggest magenta-colored grain of salt that you can find.
With all of that said, a T-Mobile iPhone rumor makes some sense. T-Mobile, like AT&T, is a GSM carrier, meaning that Apple wouldn't have to do much tweaking to launch an iPhone for T-Mobile. A Verizon iPhone, on the other hand, would require a re-engineering of the iPhone in order to fit a CDMA chip. Sure, T-Mobile may have substantially fewer subscribers than Verizon does, but a T-Mobile iPhone would still bring a large number of new iPhone buyers. Plus, it would be cheaper to make the T-Mobile iPhone than re-design the device for Verizon. No matter who says what, though, keep in mind that nothing is concrete until we hear it from Steve Jobs himself.
Via Cult of Mac