The good folks at Morgan Stanley have already
done all they could to convince anyone who wants to believe that Apple's working on an iPhone. Now another source has apparently come forward to
buttress the claims. According to the Australian site Smarthouse, an executive at BenQ has confirmed plans for the phone, saying that "BenQ will
not be making it ... however several of our suppliers have been approached to manufacture parts. Among manufacturers in
Taiwan it is common knowledge." While we have no way to confirm the alleged exec's account, it does jibe with
Morgan Stanley's claims that various Taiwanese manufacturers have been contacted to work on the project. If it's true
that this is "common knowledge" in Taiwan, though, we expect that Stevie J. will be sending his minions to
the island any day now. Apple's been pretty good about avoiding leaks from manufacturing partners, and if tongues are
wagging in Taiwan, some of these contracts may just end up getting shifted across the Strait. (And, yes, the pic is one
of the many iPhone fakes out there; we sort of like this one, since it's based on the original iBook, a design Apple
abandoned years ago.)[Thanks, Mike]