iPhone nano Still Coming, But Outside U.S. First: Report

The iPhone nano, which first surfaced as a rumor in 2007, and then again late last year as leaked images of nano cases (including one from a reputable case manufacturer) appeared. It didn't show at Macworld. But now an analyst has written that while there will still be an iPhone nano, it won't hit the U.S. first.

Brian Marshal of American Technology Research told clients on Monday:

"We do expect an iPhone nano launch early this year and our analysis suggests this could add an incremental ~$3.4bil in pro forma revenue [to 2009]."

And since, according to his sources, AT&T is not testing an iPhone nano, Marshal believes any such launch of a more affordable iPhone might be outside the U.S., perhaps in that biggest of markets: China.

"Obviously, the best-case scenario here would be a China launch (~600mil+ wireless subscribers total in the country), but we have no definitive knowledge of this and are working on identifying the local of launch and other pertinent details."

At the same time, on Tuesday, DigiTimes noted that chip firms TSMC and UMC are, as they said "likely to receive orders for the iPhone nano."

Based on past blockbuster Apple announcements you'd expect an announcement in the summer timeframe, but generally Apple doesn't announce and launch at the same time, so that would push it out further.

One reason that Marshal thinks a new iPhone is coming: with the tough economic times, Apple needs a new product intro to shore up its finances. But while it makes sense for Apple to look to China, perhaps CMCC, one has to wonder how AT&T would feel if they didn't get the new phone first.