The iPhone 5 still hasn"t been officially announced by Apple, even though there is no shortage of speculation, rumors and leaks on the Internet about a possible release date for the smartphone. Today there"s a new twist to the iPhone 5 saga. Bloomberg reports that the European wireless carrier Deutsche Telekom is going ahead and letting people reserve the iPhone 5 ahead of Apple"s announcement.
The story reports that Deutsche Telekom is making this move to try to avoid supply issues for the iPhone 5. A Deutsche Telekom spokesperson said that the company will be giving out some kind of coupon to any customers that specifically request to reserve the iPhone 5. The story adds that Deutsche Telekom is providing these coupons without actually naming the phone nor giving out its release date. Deutsche Telekom is the parent company of the US"s T-Mobile which currently doesn"t offer the iPhone for sale. However there are rumors that suggest that could change this year with T-Mobile joining AT&T, Verizon and possibly Sprint as iPhone 5 carriers.
Apple"s iPhone 5 missed its normal release date window of June/July earlier this year, in part due to parts supply issues created by the Japanese earthquake last March. It"s safe to say that the next version of Apple"s smartphone is the most highly anticipated launch of any consumer electronics device this year. Most Internet speculation has Apple launching the iPhone 5 sometime in October with a possible press event for the device to be held in late September.