Hankering for the “useless” iPhone

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There could be some awkward moments for Ad Scheepbouwer, chief executive of Dutch telecom provider Royal KPN. His company confirmed today it was in talks with Apple to provide voice and data service for the iPhone in the Netherlands.

Only a few months ago, the KPN executive appeared to be an iPhone skeptic. ‘I had one, and I thought it was a pretty useless phone, to be quite honest,’ he said in February, according to the Financial Times. ‘The battery ran out in no time. I didn’t like the touch screen.’

The world might never know if those words turn out to help or hurt KPN in its negotiations to land the Apple contract.

Maybe the ‘useless’ comment is long forgotten. A new and improved iPhone is rumored to be in the works, possibly to go on sale as early as this summer. Word is that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will announce a so-called 3G version of the iPhone, capable of running on faster cellular networks, when he and other executives speak at Apple’s developer conference June 9.

This month, Apple stopped selling iPhones online and many Apple stores said they were out of stock, prompting analysts to say the company was clearing room for the newer version of the gadget. Another sign: the line forming outside the Apple store on Fifth Avenue in New York, for no apparent reason, last week.

The phone may be useless to some and just a fad to others. But clearly there’s a market for whatever Apple plans to offer its fans next.

-- Michelle Quinn