The June 22nd date is already rumored as the day for the new iPhone launch. While its no surprise that Apple would upgrade the iPhone around June as per its yearly schedule, the bets on the hardware and carrier tie-ups are more valuable. Here we have reports from AT&T that the carrier has blocked employees from taking a vacation in June. Such blocks are only put in place to handle the mega launches like the iPhone!
While AT&T would be more than happy to continue with the iPhone, but this would bring tears to many who have been suffering from poor network of AT&T. The iPad earlier this year was announced with a AT&T data plan (for the 3G version), hinting that Apple and ATT are still buddies. However a new carrier (multiple carriers rather) would allow Apple to check competitions better and also hit a larger base of consumers.
Rumors of an Verizon iPhone are are heavy and if the codes from the iPad read right, we shall see 2 new iPhones coming in 2010!