Rumor Mill: 75% chance of iPhone in next year

The rumor mill is churning at full steam once again, with last week's somewhat guarded prediction that Apple is 75 percent likely to launch a mobile handset, dubbed "iPhone," within the next 12 months. Well, a year is a very long time in this industry and 75 percent isn't a sure thing, but regardless the odds are good enough for the marketwatchers and soothsayers. I, for one, am staying mum.

Here's a round-up of some of the articles jumping into hyperdrive:
- Investment firm PiperJaffray kicked things off last week with this article [1]
- MobileMag's article [2], "Morgan Stanley says iPhone is for real, made in Taiwan"
- Blog entries like this one [3] predict that the iPhone will hurt Motorola's sales