O2 HAS denied that a €100 price cut on the Apple iPhone is intended to clear stocks before a faster 3G version of the device is released.

The 8GByte iPhone has been reduced to €299 until May 25th. A spokesman for the mobile operator described the move as "a promotional activity to keep the momentum of the launch going".

The iPhone was launched on the Irish market in mid-March. The spokesman said the launch had been "very successful", and the price cut was designed to make the iPhone "available to an even greater number of customers for a limited time".

It is understood that Apple has yet to brief O2 on when a 3G iPhone is going to be launched.

The current iPhone runs on slower Edge networks, and many consumers, in Europe particularly, have been holding out for the launch of the faster model.

Speculation has been mounting in the US this week that Apple and its US partner ATT will launch the new model next month.

ATT has asked staff not to take holidays between June 15th and July 12th as the company will have an "exciting summer promotional launch". ATT also cancelled staff holidays last June when the iPhone first went on sale.

The O2 price cut is not the first time that early adopters of the iPhone have seen a significant price reduction only months after the product was launched.

In September Apple cut the price of the 8GByte model in the US from $599 to $399 just two months after the product's launch.

Following an outcry from customers who paid the higher price, Apple was forced to issue $100 vouchers to customers who had bought at the higher price.

O2's sister operation in the UK had also slashed iPhone prices for a limited period last month but it also denied that it was part of a stock-clearing exercise to make way for faster models.