iPhone nano: Fact or fiction?

It has probably not passed you by that Apple-flavoured rumours have (re)surfaced this week. Specifically that the Mac maker is apparently lining up a slimmed down version of its iPhone mobile device - to be known, in line with iPod branding, as an iPhone nano.

This time the blogosphere can't take the blame for resurrecting buzz around a gadget that does not (yet) exist. Step forward UK tabloid the Daily Mail - and take a bow for repackaging the rumour in a nano-sized five-paragraphs, which cite an unnamed 'industry source' as their authority.

A simple search on Google Trends illustrated how the concept of 'iPhone + Nano' has whirred through the rumour mill before. For instance, there was a big spike in iPhone nano-based chatter in 2007 - the year Apple filed patent 20070103454, which describes an electronic device that uses separate surfaces for input and output.

And sure enough, the last paragraph of the Daily Mail's article - which is otherwise unsurprisingly nano-esque when it comes to details - reads: "One expert suggested the nano phone would have a touch wheel on the back and display on the front so that numbers would be dialled from behind."

A bottom-dialling, front-facing mobile phone surely sounds more like something limping apologetically off a Microsoft drawing board than Jobsian 'it just works' genius to me.

There have been other iPhone nano hype spikes too. Photoshop cowboys have long made merry with Apple myths, distributing images online of dinky iPhones or dainty flip versions - another rumour fuelled by yet another Apple patent (of which the company files many, most of which are considered 'defensive' and never see the light of day as actual products. But then it would be a lesser company if it allowed every madcap invention to escape into the wild).

Earlier this year, Wired Magazine mocked the whole mock-up concept by coming up with a fantasy line-up of iPhone 2.0s - prior to the real device's launch - in this photo feature, including the now legendary iPhone Shuffle, which 'has just one button' and 'calls random people from your address book'. Genius.

Read the whole article @ Silicon

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!