T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Cole Brodman has confirmed what we’ve been hearing for several weeks: The Bellevue wireless carrier will not be getting the iPhone 5 this year.
Speaking at a company Town Hall meeting last week, Brodman reportedly said that the upcoming release from Apple (expected in October) will not be a part of T-Mobile’s lineup.
As GeekWire’s Todd Bishop noted last month, T-Mobile is expected to be the only major carrier in the U.S. this year without the iPhone after Sprint is expected to get it this fall.
Todd wrote:
T-Mobile’s customers stand to inherit the iPhone when (or if) AT&T’s acquisition of the company from parent Deutsche Telekom goes through. But in the meantime, the agreement for T-Mobile USA to be acquired reduces Apple’s motivation to spend time working out a deal with T-Mobile.
T-Mobile has taken some shots at the iPhone in the past, including a publicity stunt in Seattle a few months ago in which it offered a $1,000 prize to anyone whose iPhone beat the Galaxy S 4G smartphone in a download speed test.
TmoNews, which reported on the statements of Brodman today, wonders if the iPhone 4 could come to T-Mobile this year and whether the remarks signal that the carrier might get the iPhone 5 next year.
Stay tuned.