Many people have got the idea that Apple’s latest version of the iPhone (allegedly 3G) will begin to hit the stores shortly after Steve Job’s keynote at the Apple-hosted WWDC ‘08 (World Wide Developer’s Conference).

As I cannot, and do not wish to disprove such theories, this article is aimed at those being interested by the latest rumours of it being even earlier than these predictions, and to explain the possibilities of either.

Being one of the main dates in the Apple calendar, it is only fair that those in the ‘blogosphere’ or as I like to call the one constantly on my desktop, the ‘Twittersphere,’ are expecting some of Apple’s latest innovations. Marking the anniversary of the iPhone in itself, it is very likely that an iPhone is coming out around this time.

There’s a variety of other sources providing evidence to suggest a WWDC launch, but a few people participating in services like Digg are beginning to catch wind of a new rumour, suggesting that the new, updated, iPhone will be released in the very near future.

They too have a substantial amount of evidence to back up this claim, making it harder still to distinguish the basic rumours from the truth. However, their evidence is based around two main points:

1. Massive price drops. In key iPhone-selling places like the UK, for example, have been dropping the retail prices of the iPhone by up to $150 in some places. This strongly indicates a new version coming out soon, but it isn’t clear if they are planning in advance for WWDC, which in my opinion is unlike Apple (although it isn’t strictly in their hands) or wether they are actually dropping the price to clear stock for a far sooner update
2. The second main piece of evidence is that every major store in the world seems to be out of stock! Even the Apple stores online state that they are ‘currently unavailable.’ If this doesn’t suggest an upcoming change, what else will? If this is really, truly, a mistake, Apple would have rectified it by now, otherwise that business decision may potentially cost Apple millions, if not billions in lost revenue.

In conclusion, Apple will update the iPhone by June, no matter what you read, in terms of software, and the semi-inevitable 3G update. Few people expect it to be any thinner, and roughly the same minority will believe that two versions will come out, to account for people’s GPS needs (??).

Another theory - more widely accepted than the above, is that Apple will be releasing a totally new ultra-portable device, more like a luxury PDA, and so the iPhone will be a minor release in comparison. Having said that, the evidence still doesn’t weigh up, so I’ll leave it up to you to decide.

All this begs a greater question - what will become of the iPod Touch?

Sidenote- If you’re interested in the ‘iPhone Black’