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Why did AT&T head Randall Stephenson let it slip that a much faster iPhone was coming next year? PBS pundit Robert X. Cringely says — in a roundabout 1,000-word way — that it was no slip. He also reminds us several times that it was he, Cringely, who foretold all of this. All of it. I bolded those parts to make sure he gets the credit. Deservedly. For once, I'm sure the Cringe is right.

I have been saying since last July that Apple and AT&T would soon introduce an iPhone that works with AT&T's faster 3G wireless data network. But the question is why Stephenson lets it slip that next year Apple will release a faster iPhone that will make the existing model obsolete. The only impact this can have on current iPhone sales is to stop them in their tracks. I think he was sending a $1 billion message to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. What I believe is troubling the relationship between AT&T and Apple is the upcoming auction for 700-MHz wireless spectrum and AT&T's discovery that — as I have predicted for weeks — Apple will be joining Google in bidding.