This rumor always surfaces around Macworld time. I am among the many wishful thinkers when it comes to the iphone. I just want a good phone that can play mp3s, sync with my address book and ical as well as utilize all the functions of ichat.
PS: Someone explain the concept of "unlocked phone" to me? What does that mean?
An unlocked phone is a phone that isn't tied to a particular operator. Some operators sell subsidized phones that they "lock" to their own networks. This means that putting in a different operator's (U)SIM card (GSM, UMTS, or iDEN) or trying to reprogram the phone to connect to a different operator (AMPS, and its successors like IS-95 (so-called "CDMA") and D-AMPS) is prevented by the phone's firmware.
Sometimes this is undoable. Nokia GSM phones are generally unlockable via codes generated by a series of publicly available algorithms, entered on the handset keypad.
There are several reasons why you would want to switch a phone to a different operator. If you're roaming, your operator may not have a roaming agreement, or the roaming agreement may be absurdly expensive, much more expensive than buying a contractless Pay as You Go SIM card.
You might simply like an old phone but no longer be with that operator. A friend has an AT&T N-Gage that he unlocked and now use with their T-Mobile account. On that note, even if he'd stuck with AT&T, if he'd upgraded his account to a new Cingular contract (Cingular bought AT&T), the N-Gage would have become unusable with the new contract because it was locked to AT&T and Cingular SIMs wouldn't have worked in it.
It's more of an issue with GSM phones than AMPS/D-AMPS/IS-95 phones, largely because switching the latter type of phone requires the active cooperation of the operator, most of whom are reknowned for being control freaks when it comes to deciding what equipment you're going to use on their network. GSM users are used to having freedom and choice, and the locking mentality actively works against that.
But that's why people want unlocked phones. They want to buy a phone, and know they can use it for years, no matter what happens to their operator.