WE'VE ALL BEEN WONDERING how the Cupertino Cabal could offer the Iphone 3G in all markets at $199, and it looks like saint Steve's bean-counting minions are following a similar route to that taken by the Ipod through its first few iterations.

As well as subsidies provided by the few carriers lucky enough to get the nod from Apple, it looks like the Second Coming of the saviour of mobile telecommunications will come without a crib.

That's right, you'll have to shell out another $49 if you want to have your Iphone sitting in a Jonathan Ives-designed cradle when its sitting on your desk, syncing to the rest of the world, or charging its battery.

You will, of course, be able to do everything the handset needs to do using the supplied cable, but no-one will be able to see your soon-to-be ubiquitous style icon when it's lying flat on it's back in a puddle of instant coffee sloppings on your desk, will they? µ