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Much speculation has surrounded the prospect of a smaller, simpler version of the iPhone dubbed the "nano" in recent months. Lately reports have centered on the possibility of an iPhone Nano in development for China, and the existence on some case maker's sites of "nano" size iPhone products.

These rumors were tamped down in October during Apple's quarterly conference call with Steve Jobs, when he laid out Apple's strategy in the mobile phone market. Jobs was quoted saying, "I think that the traditional game in the phone market has been to produce a voice phone in a hundred different varieties, but as software starts to become the differentiating technology of this product category, I think that people are going to find that a hundred variations presented to a software developer is not very enticing."

The rumors have really flown this time. The iPhone 3G did not make it to Wal-Mart by the November 15th date previously reported here. However, it is now confirmed the product will be hitting shelves by the end of December. Some say the store is aiming for a pre-Christmas launch, others expect the iPhone to start selling there on December 28th.

Training materials distributed to Wal-Mart employees have pricing of the 8GB iPhone set at $197. However, employees have described a $99 4GB model to reporters at the New York Post and the San Jose Mercury News. Could it be a total fabrication?

Hot on the heels of the latest iTunes update (8.0.2) the latest iPhone firmware (2.2) was released early this morning. It appears there are some pleasant surprises, as some unexpected features have been added, including a 3G baseband update. This update will not affect first generation iPhones but promises to reduce dropped calls and call setup failures on 3G models.

Other unexpected improvements include improved sound quality of Visual Voicemail messages, enhancements to Mail, and a new use for the Home button. Now from any Home screen pressing the Home button will display the first Home screen. This is a simple change that will cut down on tiresome swipes between screens.

Three more days until the latest iPhone software release. Ever since the September release of firmware 2.1 there has been speculation of what features might be added to 2.2. Confirmed improvements mostly revolve around the maps application, including pedestrian and Google Transit directions, Street View, and location sharing.

Firmware 2.2 also includes improvements to the MobileSafari browser, support for audio input from third-party devices, and over-the-air (OTA) podcasts. Downloads of audio or video podcasts will be limited to 10MB file sizes when using 3G or EDGE, similar to app store downloads.

The beta 2 release of iPhone firmware 2.2 is here. There are major improvements to the Maps application. Directions can now be found in three different modes, for driving, mass transit, and pedestrians. Street View has also been added, and allows the user to see street level photographs of a location just like Google Maps on the web.

When getting public transportation directions, subways and buses are both included along with scheduled times from Google Transit when available. Want to send your location to someone you're supposed to meet? Location sharing is another built-in feature that makes this easy.