Apple has created prototypes of the iPhone with a keyboard and sent them to senior executives at key operators, according to TheRegister.
What he is apparently doing is canvassing the idea with operators. "If you had a keyboard version, how many would you take?"
And he has taken this beyond just chatting: actual prototypes - not just mockups - have been sent to senior executives at some operators. I'm not allowed to even hint which operators... but I can report that the keyboard has "issues" which are not yet resolved.
The Register indicates that the keyboard iPhone will not be unveiled this year. Aimed specifically at corporate buyers it would see a release around this time next year. They stress that while it is not guaranteed that it will reach the public it does in fact already exist!
It would be exponentially more productive to add full bluetooth support for PDA type keyboards, and let people choose if they need a real or can live with the virtual.
Oh and bluetooth serial for the GPS devices we want for our iphone V1's...
Apple would better invest some time into the buggy keyboard software of the iPhone 1.0. There are at least five nasty glitches/design flaws which would - if fixed - improve the value of the software very much. But it is still unclear whether this will be fixed with the new software version coming with the 3G model :-(