Rumor: iPhone 4 coming to Tmo this fall

Since the release of the iPhone 4, maybe even way before that, customers have been wondering when the iPhone was going to come to another carrier. There has been so much speculation that it was coming to Verizon sometime soon, but T-Mobile’s name never came up. Well it appears now that the iPhone is coming to T-Mobile, at least that what Cult of Mac says. And they’re swearing by it.

They report that, according to a “highly placed source” within the company, T-Mobile is in the “advanced stage” of talks with Apple regarding a certain gadget. Their source also says that the iPhone 4 has an 80 percent chance of coming to T-Mobile in Q3.

This timing fits, because it would correspond with the point when AT&T’s exclusivity agreement with Apple will reportedly end and that Apple “routinely added extra carriers when exclusivity deals in [overseas] markets expire.” The idea is that the company would follow that pattern in the US as well.

People — fans and bloggers both — have been carefully watching to see where the iPhone could land. Many still believe that Verizon Wireless is still the most likely destination, but Gizmodo has plenty of reasons why that isn’t going to happen:

Most pundits expect Apple to add Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest mobile phone provider with 92.8 million subscribers. AT&T is the second-largest US carrier with 87 million customers. The major problem is hardware: Verizon’s network is based on incompatible CDMA technology. However, Apple is already working with chipset-supplier Qualcomm on a CDMA chip for the iPhone, according to Wired.

But some analysts think it would be a lot simpler for Apple to go with T-Mobile, even though the carrier has a third of the customers of Verizon. AT&T and T-Mobile are the two primary GSM carriers in the US, and the iPhone wouldn’t require major hardware changes. Indeed, many T-Mobile customers already use unlocked iPhones on the company’s network.

Perhaps more importantly, a switch to Verizon would require a major realignment of corporate allegiances. Verizon is committed to Apple’s main wireless rival, Google, and has spent the last year heavily marketing the search giant’s Android phones. Verizon routinely runs ads directly attacking the iPhone. The most recent attack ad mocked the iPhone 4′s “death grip.”

It looks like we will just have to wait till things pan out, as usual. But what do you think? Given all the reports of iPhone 4 issues and iOS 4 glitches, what would happen if T-Mobile got this device? If you were on the fence about it on AT&T, would a Tmo offering entice you sign up? Weigh in below.

Via: Gizmodo, Cult of Mac