Rumours about the new iPhone - and Nokia's challenge to Apple

Since the announcement that O2 are offering the 8GB Apple iPhone for just £169, rumours have been rife that the beginning of June will see the launch of the new 3G iPhone, writes Dominic Dawes.

And as we all know, rumours like company. The latest whispers are that the new iPhone will have Nike+ (a portable personal training application), stereo Bluetooth support and GPS, as well as new software to combat those clever hackers who seem intent on 'jailbreaking' the iPhone.

That means hacking it so that it can be used on different networks, or support unauthorised third-party applications.

And if you didn't already know it can do that, you never saw me, right?

Meanwhile, there's still the question of 'will anyone, ever, release a product with an interface slick enough to compete with Apple?'

Well, The next serious contender to clamber into the ring will be Nokia, whose next big thing is currently shrouding itself beneath the peculiar codename 'Tube'.

And it seems the new Nokia may be closer to release than was previously thought. The new handset will be - naturally - a touchscreen device, and will resemble quite closely the size and dimensions of the iPhone (if the blurred shots we've seen are to be believed).

Hopefully, if a decent rival to the iPhone hits the market and is competitive in terms of price, maybe we'll see even the next-gen iPhone appearing with sub-£200 tag. For now, we'll wait to see how far Apple can bring down its prices before we start betting on any rival...

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