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La Repubblica, a well known Italian publication, is reporting, in Italian of course, that there will soon be a 3G iPhone in Italy.  However, this would be no normal release.  Supposedly there will be no carrier lock or two month agreement on the device whatsoever, it will just be sold at a higher retail price to begin with.  Telecom Italia Mobile will have the rights to sell the phone exclusively for the first few months, but customers will not have to use TIM as their carrier although it is estimated that 50% of Italian wireless customers use TIM anyways.

If this is the case, this would be a landmark deal for TIM.  Apple has been known to get whatever they want when it comes to deals about the iPhone.  If this rumor is true, Apple may have realized that in order for the phone to truly reach its potential, they need to make it more open.  It will be interesting to see how this unfolds as a 3G iPhone wasn’t expected to be even announced until WWDC in June.

Who ever said that Apple doesn’t love business users? According to some sources, AT&T is set to launch a new iPhone plan for business customers on January 21st. The “business” iPhone is technically the same as every other iPhone with one small difference - business customers get a $25 per month corporate discount. Not too shabby. Why, with that money, you can get unlimited text messages every month, and get all your twitter updates to your phone. The joys of working for corporate.

Via [Gizmodo]