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Is this the first iPhone rumour of 2010?

The year's first iPhone rumours are touting a front-facing video camera for video calls and twice the battery life of the iPhone 3GS.

Joseph Hanlon Special to CNET News
Joe capitalises on a life-long love of blinking lights and upbeat MIDI soundtracks covering the latest developments in smartphones and tablet computers. When not ruining his eyesight staring at small screens, Joe ruins his eyesight playing video games and watching movies.
Joseph Hanlon

Happy New Year everybody, and welcome to 2010; a year sure to be full of eye-catching tech and dozens upon dozens of iPhone rumours. And speaking of iPhone rumours...

An artist's concept for a next-gen iPhone (Credit: Rodolphe Desmare via Gizmodo)

A local Korean newspaper has published details about the future of the iPhone. According to ETNews, Apple will launch the iPhone 4G in Korea in June, stating internal sources at both Apple Korea and the local iPhone network carrier, KT.

ETNews outlines the upgraded features of the iPhone 4G as having double the battery life of the iPhone 3GS and a secondary camera lens for video calling. There may also be a mobile TV service for Korean customers, but whether this is a live service employing a DVB-H tuner, or a streaming service like Telstra's mobile Foxtel remains a mystery.

The glaring omission in this grinding of the rumour mill is whether the 4G element of the updated iPhone moniker refers to 4G or LTE mobile network compatibility. This would conflict with reports that AT&T in the US won't roll out 4G services until 2011, and it seems unlikely Apple would design an iPhone with hardware that is incompatible in America.

So chalk it up folks, it's the first iPhone rumour of the year, but certainly not the last. Maybe we should collaborate on an iPhone rumour together? Anyone handy with Photoshop and feels like slapping together a slick-looking mock-up? I'm pretty sure we could come up with a better name than iPhone 4G at least.