One version, anyway ... A well-placed source tells me that Vodafone has opted out of the iPhone race because it wasn’t happy with the pricing and the strong Apple branding, and that apparently Voda isn’t the only major operator balking for those reasons. He also noted that he ran into Steve Jobs here in London the other day (not the first sighting, it seems, according to the Inquirer). Then again, maybe he’s on Beatles’ patrol.

For all the speculation, it does look like we may well be edging towards a deal. Stay tuned.