The Apple iPod phone is "set for production" and will be released next year, an analyst has said this week.
American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu claims that Apple's first mobile telephone will be introduced early next year.
"Our research indicates that an Apple-designed smart phone has moved from concept to prototype and recently has progressed to near completion as a production unit," Wu said.
"We believe this smart phone has been in development for over 12 months and has overcome substantial challenges including design, interference, battery life and other technical glitches."
The new telephone-iPod will be a quality combination of telephone and media player.
It is expected that the Apple phone will be available in three colours - likely to be black, white and platinum - and take a similar "candy bar" form to the iPod nano.
Speculation over the product has been growing over the past two years, with Morgan Stanley analysts reporting earlier this year that two Taiwanese contract manufacturers were vying for the assembly job.
The group estimates that the new iPod product could generate billions of dollars of annual revenue for Apple.
© 2006 Adfero Ltd
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