San Francisco - Apple this week announced new iPhone distribution deals throughout Asia, but customers there may not wish to rush out and buy one quite yet. Reports Tuesday that the company had sold out of its online iPhone stocks in the US and Britain fuelled speculation that the company is readying an announcement of a new iPhone model that will fix what many see as the gadget's biggest flaw - its inability to run on 3G wireless networks.
The announcement is expected to be made at the company's annual developer conference slated for June 9 in San Francisco, according to a report by Piper Jaffray & Co analyst Gene Munster.
"The channels are running dry," Munster said Tuesday. "The limited availability is one of several indications that the release of a new model is imminent."
Current iPhones only work on so-called 2.5G networks which offer much slower download speeds. Apple cited the high cost, large size and heavy power requirements of 3G chips as making them unsuitable for the iPhone when it was launched last June.
Munster said said the new device may have a switch that lets users turn on 3G access when they want faster data speeds, and shut it off when they want to conserve battery power, he said.
So far it has sold 5.8 million units, but aims to boost that to 10 million by the end of the year with an ambitious roll out project that is making the phone available in most of the world. Apple on Monday announced agreements with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd and three of its affiliates to bring the iPhone to Singapore, India, the Philippines and Australia.
Vodafone Group Plc agreed this month to offer the iPhone in 10 markets including Australia, India and Italy. America Movil SAB, the wireless carrier controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, said last week that it will sell the iPhone in 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
