Rumors of the elusive iPhone "nano" circulated almost two years ago and seemed to die quietly then, unlike Verizon iPhone rumors which continued until the device actually came into existence and launched this week. The same fate might be taking its toll on the iPhone nano as rumors, with actual weight, have begun resurfacing claiming Apple is indeed working on a smaller, cheaper model of its phone.
Bloomberg is reporting that the company is currently working on new iterations of the iPhone that will hopefully target, and dominate, Google"s Android operating system (which took the reigns as the number one mobile OS recently). One of those new iterations is one-third smaller than the size of the iPhone 4, has no home button, and will be priced cheaper than the current iPhone, said a person who has seen the prototype but was asked to not be named. Bloomberg says that Steve Jobs, who is still involved in strategic decisions despite his medical leave, will use lower prices to gain some of Android"s ground; in fact, they claim that Apple is considering pricing the iPhone Nano at $200 without a contract.
Two other people said that Apple is working on a new technology that will help make it easier for the phone to connect to multiple mobile networks. That should not be too surprising seeing as a recent tear-down of the CDMA iPhone 4 showed that it was using a GSM/CDMA and HSPA+ chipset.
The person said that Apple plans to reveal the new device mid-year, which makes sense with usual iPhone announcement dates, but could delay it or scrap the idea altogether.