O2 Dusting Shelves for New iPhone

UK-based The Telegraph is reporting that O2 will start giving away free iPhones with lower cost plans in an effort to clear out inventory and make room for the new iPhones expected to arrive this summer.

O2, which has exclusive rights to sell the iPhone in the UK, is believed to planning to give the eight gigabyte (GB) 3G iPhone away for free on £34.26 pay monthly tariffs from May.

At present the 8GB device costs £96.89 on the cheapest tariffs and is only free on £73.41 and £44.05-a-month contracts. The operator is also said to be planning to give away the 16GB on £44.05 per month contracts.

The Telegraph also mentions that it has contacted O2, learning that any pricing changes would have to be approved by Apple. The site then goes to speculate that the iPhone nano will appear this summer. “There is speculation that the phone to be launched this summer could be the long-anticipated iPhone Nano,” the text reads.

While Apple is indeed expected to release a revision of the current iPhone model, the company itself denied any plans of introducing a stripped down (nano) version of the handset. Apple is also expected to unveil a netbook or a tablet this year, although these have also been somewhat dismissed by the Mac maker.

As the Apple-focused blogosphere is waiting for the confirmation that a new iPhone is in the works, everyone related to the company in one way or another should find comfort in knowing that iPhone OS 3.0 is being introduced by Apple today. Word has it that the new OS, accompanied by a fresh version of the iPhone SDK, packs a few goodies, such as MMS and tethering via Bluetooth and USB, as well as the much anticipated copy-paste.