The £100 cut came amid industry speculation that a 3G version of the device may be released as early as June Lilly Peel, Jonathan Richards and Christine Buckley O2, the mobile operator, has announced it is cutting the price of Apple’s 8GB iPhone by more than a third to £169. The £100 reduction is part of a limited offer until June 1 and comes after T-Mobile’s decision to reduce the price of the handset from £315 to £78 in Germany. The price cuts and reports that iPhone stock is running low and not being replenished in the United States, France and Britain and have boosted industry speculation that the 3G version of the device could be released later this quarter. Today Piper Jaffray, the analyst, lent its weight to reports that the release of a new iPhone is imminent, saying it expected Apple to release a 3G version - with an updated exterior - in June. Piper Jaffray said that the price cuts by O2 and T-Mobile indicated that demand for the iPhone in Europe was "light" and that carriers were "draining the channel" ahead of the release of an updated device. The next generation iPhone would likely have an entry-level price of between $349 and $399, Piper Jaffray said. In the US, the iPhone initially appeared in two versions - 4GB and 8GB. In February, the company announced a 16GB version of the device for both the US and Europe, and the 4GB model - which was never sold in Europe - was discontinued in September. ]]>