The rumour mills are suggesting that the iPhone is headed to Italy, Spain and Switzerland in the near future.
A close look at the latest iPhone ROM (version 1.1.3) suggests that support for Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) is already built-in. Italian site Macity also reports that its sources have also confirmed that TIM has already come to terms with Apple.
Meanwhile, Spain’s El Periodico reports that Apple and Telefonica could announce the arrival of the iPhone in that country at the Mobile World Congress (coincidentally taking place in Barcelona, Spain).
Over in Switzerland, Le Temps reports that an internal source confirmed to the newspaper that Swisscom will launch the iPhone by the end of February. Interestingly, the article also states that Swisscom is not interested in selling an iPhone that does not sport UMTS and HSDPA connectivity. Swisscom is also looking at having a special TV chip installed in the iPhone and wants the device to bear its logo. If these conditions are true, I’d bet against seeing a Swiss iPhone announcement by the end of the month.
With rumours of slowing iPhone sales, is Apple accelerating other country deployment to try to boost demand?