Apple iPhone 5 pre-orders being taken by Germany's Deutsche Telekom
T-Mobile USA's parent company, Deutsche Telekom, is taking pre-orders for Apple's iPhone 5 in Germany, even though the new iPhone hasn't yet been revealed by Apple, according to Bloomberg.
So far, there is no release date, price, specifications or any other information from Apple on the next iPhone. Apple hasn't even said yet if it will be called the iPhone 5 or not. Nonetheless, the phone is widely anticipated to arrive in either late September or early October.
But while Deutsche Telekom is letting its subscribers in Germany reserve one of Apple's next iPhones, whenever it does arrive, that doesn't mean T-Mobile USA will follow suit.
For one thing, T-Mobile has never sold an iPhone in the U.S., despite Deutsche Telekom carrying the German version of the iPhone. The current U.S. carriers of the iPhone are AT&T and Verizon. And while there are rumors that Sprint and T-Mobile could sell the next iPhone, the carriers and Apple haven't said anything officially to confirm the speculation.
Although it's taking reservations for Apple's next iPhone, Deutsche Telekom isn't saying when the device will arrive or what it will look like.
The pre-order move is being made instead "in anticipation of supply bottlenecks" whenever Apple does announce and then ship a next-generation iPhone, Alexander von Schmettow, a Deutsche Telekom spokesman, told Bloomberg.
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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles
Photo: Patrick Stevens takes a photo of an Apple Store in Santa Monica with his then-new Apple iPhone 4 on June 24, 2010, as hundreds of customers waited for hours to purchase the latest Apple smartphone. The next-generation iPhone hasn't yet been announced, but Deutsche Telekom in Germany is now taking pre-orders for the device. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times
