Why is LTE equipment being installed in an Apple Store?

Well, this is certainly interesting. While rumors of an LTE-enabled iPhone had died down for a little while, they sprung back to life yesterday with a report that just such a device was being tested by carriers. Now we’ve received the image you see above, which shows some 4G LTE equipment that was recently installed in a major Apple store — by AT&T, according to our source. Making things somewhat more interesting is the equipment itself, one piece of which supports only the 700MHz and AWS bands — both of which AT&T plans to use for its LTE network if the T-Mobile acquisition goes through. We’re also told that the Apple Store in question, and all those in the region, are now trying to increase staffing on the sales floor by about 30 percent, which is apparently not related to the usual hiring in the lead up to the holidays (that will apparently still happen later). Of course, this could simply be the result of some long-term planning rather than evidence of the next iPhone, but the timing is a bit curious to say the least. [Thanks, Anonymous] Why is LTE equipment being installed in an Apple Store? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 13:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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