Despite more iPhone launches drawing closer, there is still a lot of the world where there is no timeline in sight for the revolutionary little device. Not willing to sit on their hands, a lot of carriers are already in talks with Apple, even if these are preliminary, including Australia's Telstra.

Telstra Corp. has announced that it is in talks with Apple over the iPhone, and is currently testing the device. Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo told Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper that his company would be interested in the device if it delivered "an enhanced experience for Telstra's customers."

The spin on this is incredible, and for anyone that didn't actually know better, this would sound as if the decision was in Telstra's hands, and Apple was begging them for a bone. This is hardly surprising considering that early this year, Telstra's Greg Winn told the AAP that "There's an old saying -- stick to your knitting -- and Apple is not a mobile phone manufacturer, that's not their knitting."

At this time it is painfully obvious that Apple is indeed a very accomplished knitter, as it is obvious that Telstra still underestimates whom they are dealing with. Considering that so far, carriers in Europe have had to beep up their EDGE network in order to be able to properly service the iPhone, the fact that Telstra's Next G network operates at 850 megaHertz frequency and would need a special version of the iPhone certainly won't make things any easier.

Nobody doubts that Telstra is indeed talking to Apple about the iPhone, but considering the differences in corporate culture, it is unlikely that much will come from these talks aside from a polite refusal.
Considering that Michael Dell's statement is still remembered, and ridiculed, a decade later is suggestive that Telstra's comment won't be forgotten any time soon. Knitting can be a truly cut-throat business.