Etisalat says they did not confirm any iPhone 5 launch this year

Following reports that quoted an Etisalat official speaking of the 5th generation iPhone being released this year, the company issued a statement claiming they did not confirm a 2011 5th generation iPhone launch.

This is the original statement published on Gulf News:

Yes, we are in talks with most smartphone manufacturers including Apple on the rollout of the 4G handset, iPhone 5 later this year.

And this is etisalat’s clarification, posted on a blogspot blog (you’d think they would host their own blog):

Etisalat held an LTE Media Seminar on 9th June 2011, following which there were several announcements in the media about the launch of LTE services in the UAE. In reference to these announcements, Etisalat would like to clarify that the Corporation is in talks with a number of manufacturers to bring the latest LTE-compatible devices to the UAE – including USB dongles, modems and mobile devices – whenever they become available from the manufacturer, after Etisalat’s official launch of LTE in Q3, 2011.

At no point did Etisalat confirm that any new iPhone device will be launched in 2011.

I’m guessing Cupertino wasn’t very happy with the original statement.

[Thanks Mazhar.]

You can find the author of this post on twitter: @khaled.

Arabic version of this post on SaudiMac Arabic Edition.

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