iPhone rumor: 3G Euro handset to use Vodafone network?

Phone-lovers in Europe are currently eyeing up the US with barely disguised envy; the green-eyed monster is, of course, down to the fact that lucky Americans will get the iPhone on Friday, while we over the Atlantic have to wait until Q4 this year.  Discussion has flourished over which network will clinch that all-important deal with Apple and get exclusive rights to carry the handset, and those whispering "Vodafone" have had another couple of voices join the chorus with international financial services organisation Credit Suisse indicating the network is ahead while an anonymous Vodafone source told Bright Magazine that it was "a done deal".

Engadget Mobile are convinced that the second wave of iPhone handsets leaving Quanta Computer production lines - and intended for "different markets" are the European version, and that moreover they'll have 3G chips of some sort to take advantage of the great prevalence of high-speed cellular broadband over here.  If that's the case (and it's the argument that was made back when that story broke in May) then the iPhone would become a whole lot more viable to a lot of users - myself included - who so far have been put off by the reliance on woeful EDGE.