This can seem very realistic. It is a picture of a phone with a SIM card with an Apple logo on it. “I should point out that our source isn’t claiming that the phone pictured is the fabled iPhone (it is a Samsung SGH x497). He claims that the SIM card is Apple’s.” This source is saying that Apple will be releasing a mobile network and not an Apple iPhone. The plan is that Apple will become an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) which means they lease call time from another huge network operator (Cingular?) and they operate their own mini-network.
Our tipster says that Apple is about 85% ready to roll out a cell service using the moniker Mobile Me, which was recently trademarked. Apple will be using Cingular’s network and Motorola’s hardware.
We are told that the service is on track to launch sometime in February (or so we are told). [TUAW]
So apparently this friend heads to the throne and our tipster snaps up the friend’s Samsung SGH-X497, pops off the battery, and grabs the given blurry shots of the Apple-branded SIM, which was apparently stamped with:
xx/50 Test Unit [digits written in sharpie]
Apple Computer
Internal Test MM1.3.a [Engadget]
I think that the green card inside looks suspiciously like an iTunes gift card, and to avoid us seeing the sharp edges from the badly cut card it was blurred over so that it looked ‘authentic’. If someone were to actually see a real one, I don’t think they would be using a crappy camera, they would at least try and get the image to appear clear. We can wait until February to see if this is real or fake.
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