T-Mobile CMO says his network isn't getting iPhone 5 this year

TmoNews reports that at a recent town hall meeting, T-Mobile CMO Cole Brodman stated flatly that "We are not going to get the iPhone 5 this year." This will no doubt be disappointing to T-Mobile users who've been holding out hope since 2007. However, many sites (including Engadget) have pointed out this doesn't necessarily mean the network won't be getting any iPhone at all this year; with recent news pointing to the imminent launch of the iPhone 4/"4S" on Sprint, there may yet be hope for T-Mobile. A rumor from a few months ago pointed to a prototype iPhone with support for T-Mobile, but the legitimacy of that rumor was never established with any certainty.

On the other hand, Apple may not want to tweak the iPhone's antenna chipset to meet T-Mobile's requirements. T-Mobile's 3G network runs on a different frequency from virtually every other 3G network out there, and the iPhone's antenna does not currently support that frequency. (The iPhone will work on T-Mobile's network as-is, but only with much slower EDGE data.) With rumors pointing to Apple creating a GSM/CDMA "world phone" antenna for its next iPhone, the company may be reluctant to add support for yet another set of frequencies to the chipset.