Good news for a certain cross-section of German Apple hardware enthusiasts: the iPhone 5 is now available for preorder.
German phone carrier Deutsche Telekom will immediately begin taking preorders from its customers for the iPhone 5, a DT spokesman told Bloomberg News. The report does not note whether or not this move to take reservations for the next-generation iPhone is approved by Apple, but general Internet chatter suggests that Deutsche Telekom is simply assuming a new iPhone is coming and is getting ready for the huge demand.
The DT spokesman also told Bloomberg that they would take the preorders "in anticipation of supply bottlenecks," in order to make the process smoother and more timely whenever the iPhone 5 comes out.
The operator will hand out coupons to people who expressly request the successor model to the iPhone 4, without providing the name or release details of the device, [the DT spokesman] said.
Though this report does not add any specifics to the iPhone 5 rumor pool, it is at least more indication that the device is probably coming soon. The most generally accepted guess for a release date is sometime in early October, as first floated by Boy Genius Report and then confirmed by the well-connected Jim Dalrymple of tech blog The Loop.
BGR on Sunday also published what is apparently a leaked document from Best Buy that shows the electronics giant expects the next-gen iPhone during the first week in October, adding fuel to the early October rumors. Coincidence that Deutsche Telekom has begun taking preorders exactly one month before the rumored release date time-frame of the iPhone 5? Perhaps. But who knows.
For more of the latest Apple rumors, take a look at our roundup of the most recent (and craziest) speculation.