3G iPhone for Europe on the 25th?

With all the hubbub about the new iPods and iTunes services from Apple, it's easy to forget that there are folks out there in the world who aren't as fortunate as us. I'm talking about the Europeans, who still don't have a 3G version of the iPhone for native use on their mobile networks. While more than a few folks were expecting Apple to announce iPhone availability for the old world yesterday, we still haven't heard anything official--even though it sure seems like things are all squared away for a European iPhone launch. And as we've seen, a few Europeans are now taking matters into their own hands in the absence of an official European version of the iPhone.

So when is it going to happen? September 25th, if you believe the folks at Engadget. They think that the Apple Expo in Paris on the 25th is the perfect place for Apple to announce the European availability of the iPhone. What's more, they're predicting that the European iPhone will be a new flagship model of the device, sporting a 3G radio and 16GB of flash storage. If Apple chooses to sell the same high-end iPhone here in the U.S., that would definitely help explain yesterday's unexpected iPhone price drop. I must say, this sounds quite plausible, though I suppose we'll all just have to wait and see.

For more on the rumored 3G iPhone:
- see this Engadget article