Apple: AmTech Sees 2009 iPhone Nano Launch Outside U.S.

While this year’s Macworld turned out to be something of a dud, the relative paucity of new Apple hardware has only ratcheted up speculation on what the company might have brewing. In particular, there is an increasingly widespread view that the company is planning some kind of low-end iPhone, which the Street has labeled the iPhone Nano . Brian Marshall , an analyst with American Technology Research , this morning wrote in a research note that he still thinks a low end iPhone will launch early this year. But he also says that he has learned that no such device is yet being tested by AT&T (T). That leads him to conclude that the launch of the still-theoretical new phone will be will a non-U.S. carrier. The best case, he says, would be a launch with a carrier in China, but he adds that he has “no definite knowledge of this.” Marshall thinks an iPhone Nano could sell 10 million units this year, and provide an incremental $3.4  billion of pro forma revenue and about 90 ... (link)